Crusade of the Thousand II: New Testament
by Medigo
Summary: They survived the games of death and the terror of Orichalcos and became legends in their own time. Yet their adventures left many mysteries unsolved, and a new darkness has come to claim the biggest mystery of all... The Pharaoh's soul.
1. In the Beginning there was Nothing

_**(OOC: Greetings. This is the sequel to my first fic 'Crusade of the Thousand', which stopped almost exactly one year ago. Now it continues at last.  
A bit of an obvious warning here, but I might as well say it: Reading Part I is probably smart if you want to understand and follow this story. Anyway lets begin)**_

**New Testament 001: In the Beginning there was Nothing**

Half a year had passed since that awful day. A year since a lethal plague swept the country-side, and affected the lives of so many english citizens. Most recovered physically, if not mentally, but there were some with less fortune. This disease had been released accidentily by the company formerly known as Tum'aga, a mining business that once dug too far. A strange enterprise they ran, with their wealth they tried to overtake a gaming company of all things, only because its vague connections to older more magical times. The higher ups of this company all suffered the same infection as the country of the United Kingdom apparently had. Their Kartel had been reduced to one member, the rest 'fell' to the plague. Their employees were not even mentioned in televised reports. What was included were the various nightmare descriptions that all survivors suffered. Green unworldly light, inhuman apparitions and demonic terrors, all of them were but hallucinations induced by the epidemic. Or so they say...

Some were never convinced by this 'fact'. The government was hiding something, they had to be. What they had seen was so lifelike, so memorable. A monster that just did not stop, and that claimed many lives. In truth, Tum'aga had unleashed a demon from the depths, one that threatened to consume all life on earth. It did not just 'contaminate', it destroyed souls. It was only with the combined efforts of seven unlikely heroes and all of the firepower in England, that the side of good managed to put a stop to it. Yet nothing of this adventure was shared with the main land, not even the families of the people that the demon killed were given the true fate of their loved ones. None the less, the fallen received a grave. Most were buried in the same lot, soldiers and marines that died in the battle. There was a special graveyard, for those whose bodies were never found. It took time, a lot had to be arranged. Eventually the realtives were able to get one for the lost ones, and they took what small comfort it provided.

Among them were three children: Nicolai Zoro, Venice Gray and Andre Carter. How they ended their lives, those tales were too unbelievable to be told, nobody would understand. Would you listen to a story that involved such outlandish scenes as cyborg assassins attacking blimps, people riding dragons from an ancient dynasty and vampires that could drain life energy. _He_ did not think so, _he_ never even told their parents. As far as anyone knew, his friend Nicolai had been caught in a disastrous crashlanding, the pilot of a zeppelin suffered a fatal heartattack from the Tum'aga plague. His other friend Venice had apparently drowned in the middle of the sea, she tried to escape the virus by swimming. And poor Andre, that name did not even have a cover-up story. He was simply missing, neither a lie nor the truth could tell anyone where he had ended up. His brother saw his soul die, but not the body, Tum'aga robbed him of that privelege. He just knew, that voice would never be heard again.

_Andre Carter  
__1983 - 2008  
__He gave his Life for a Better World_

There was his grave, a private grave for him and his family alone. It rained today, but it had to be visited. Today was the half-year anniversary of that sacrifice Andre Carter made. The other could not ignore it, how his brother dueled a man to his death, to save the life of another victim. He never even got to hold him, or say what he wanted to say. No eulogy or coffin could make up for that. This was William Carter, once the younger brother, now the only brother. He was the one relative to understand why it happened. His parents were not here today because of that, they still could not accept that Andre was gone, William did not have the heart to tell them. Life went on, so many things had happened these last six months. If the spirit was nearby, he could tell them about these things. They were free to talk here... or so he thought.

"I see you are getting in touch with your overly emotional side."

William Carter flinched, he turned around immediately. Behind stood a man he did not know, a man whose face was obscured by the hood of his raincoat. "Who are you?" He was shocked, appaled and mystified; how could this man get into this secure and private location, how? "So how long did it take for your family to get him a decent spot? I imagine the undertakers threw a fit when they were told that there was no body." He seemed to ignore the question, and filled Wills mind with even more. This man said things no normal person should know about, he spoke as if he .. "Yes, that is the right look, William Carter; brother of Andre Carter. I know all about you and him." A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "....how." The questioning of all those riddles could be summed up with one word now. "How do I know these things? Oh lets just use this popular phrase: I have been following you for some time." Thunder started to crack, and a bolt of lightning flashed across the cemetery, illuminating the twisted expression on the strangers face.

"How nicely timed." He cackled. "Look, I do not know what you want, or why you know so much. I will just ask to leave us alone, come back some other time!" Carter tried to compose himself again. "Us? Hoo boy, he thinks he can see dead people. Gotten a little crazier as well, eh?" The man reached for something in his pocket. "Then again. You already know about 'spirits', so why not?" He pulled out a deck of cards. "Wielder of the Dragon Sword, Timaeus." And Wills eyes widened. His visitor knew even about _that_. "What are you!?" This guy could not be human, could he? "I am a duelist. Like you." Next he took out a dueldisk, in it he could insert all of his cards. "I play the same game that you and your brother played. The same game that got him killed and 'saved' the world." That was a dueldisk, and it was the same model that Tum'aga's liaison company Templesoft had made. The device that made holographic images of duel monster cards, simulating a real-life duel. "You want me, to fight you...here?" He could not believe it, he could not allow it! "Get out! I will never insult my brothers resting place like that." Besides he did not even have his cards with him, let alone a disk. "We think you will."

"What?" Next thing he knew, there was a dueldisk near his leg, he tossed it there. "How did.. when did.." He then noticed something, his cards were already in it, all of them. "I stopped by your house this morning. Picked up what you might need." Another roar of thunder shot across the sky. "I still will not do it, I will not.." He was about to take it off when. "Your brothers grave hmm? There is nothing in it, but I supposed you would still defend it with your life." He took a step closer to the tombstone. "You...leave him alone." Instinctively Will stepped in between him. "Ah. I was correct." He backed off and activated his disk. "Then do me a favor, for the sake of your dear dead sibling. Duel me. That's all I came here for... one game, and I will be out of your hair." For the first time since they met, he seemed to think about what what said. He was confused and enraged, not two very good emotions to help him with decisions. _"I should not, but this guy... I can not stand him, there is something_..." Just then he realized something and flinched.

_"Wait... we?"_

On the other side of the country was Christine Rose, another of the seven heroes. And she was running late for a special kind of meeting. She was taking public transport, even though she hated it, to get where she wanted. Today was the day that famous novel write John Nelson would hand out new autographs for his latest book 'Chaos for Chaos', and she could not wait to get her hands on it. Which was why she was desperate enough to take the bus, since her parents, god bless them, were affraid to let her ago after the previous 'vacation experience'. _"I knew it.." _Of course just when things looked up, and when she felt movement once more, the subway ceased moving. If the first minute already showed delays, she would never make it there. "_Oh for the love of.. why is this happening to me?"_ She looked out the windows, if she could see whatever was blocking her path outside. But the source of the disturbance was inside... "Hey.." Nobody else was complaining, because strangely, everybody else was asleep.

They looked perfectly awakw just a few seconds ago. "_Are they that tire...d?"_ She had the answer soon enough. _"No." _Well all but one were sleeping. One man rose up, silently and looked at her from behind his dark tinted glasses. "_This is not normal, is it?" _He turned towards her. Rose pinched her arm to make sure that she was not sleeping, it still hurt. "_This is really..really... real_." He came closer and closer, she got nervous really fast. "Look, back off.. I do not know you and.." Then he pulled out a dueldisk. And it became clear to her, that this stranger was a duelist too. "You want to play with me?" She was surprised, this was not as dangerous as she had feared, but this situation was still too odd for comfort. Something like mass hypnosis would not be followed with a simple game. "You put these people to sleep." She realized. The other still did not answer. Just like the one that stalked William, he had her dueldisk in his hand as well. "What the..how did you?" He tossed it to the girl, and activated his own. "Lets Duel." He finally said.

And on the other side of the world, back in England, Colin Sairve could be found, the third of seven. He was where he could always be located, inside one of his makeshift stands, behind a table with a cheap crystal ball and a tarot deck. He was still the worst fortune teller in the world, and damn proud of it. But today the customers were not biting, which he had foreseen. "_It's boring lately. In fact it is so boring I almost want something foreboding and excitingly lifethreatening to happen_." That sentence and all of its variants were the number one topic of today, and yesterday and probably tomorrow. Despite these thoughts, the seer was confident that that would never happen, since tempting fate always worked the other way around for him.

"Your fortune telling sucks."

But then he did get a customer.

"What?"

He rose up, and looked at her. There was only a girl in front of his stand. "You heard me. You suck.." She said with even more bluntness then before. "Is that so? So I should do...what exactly?" He shrugged. "Should I prove you otherwise? Do I even have to try?" There seemed to be a stand-off. "No. I just came to tell you that you stink at fortune telling. I would know." She giggled. "Eh? What does that imply?" His left eye twitched. "Call me a fan. Or an anti-fan, I think that fits better." Then things happened really fast. For no reason other then that he had it with him, he took out his dueldisk and activated it, so he could challenge her. "Oh?" Here, she was the surprised one. "That was fast. I did not expect you to ask me.." She had a dueldisk as well of course, she planned to goad him into dueling, yet he took initiative. "When did you figure out that I was a duelist?" She asked. Sairve blinked. "Hm? Oh..ehr..didnt really think about that." He shook his head. "So you are one! Aha, I knew it!" And corrected himself quickly.

The girl sighed and took out her disk. "You really are easy to manipulate." Colin cringed again. "Look, this is a duel for ..ehr.. honor... yeah. If I win, you have to get your future read by me. If you win, you can tell the whole town I suck." He smirked and inserted his deck. "Big deal, everyone knows that already." She laughed. "Grr... Well then what do you want?" She stroked her chin, thinking it over. "Dunno. I will think of something. Let's do this." Both players started the game, drawing their cards. "...what kind of deck do you have anyway?" He asked. "Now now, I can't tell you in advance. Fair play is underused, is it not?" She drew five cards. "No, this time girls don't go first." Colin suddenly remembered someone else who said something like that, said during a duel from six months ago. The girl saw that the seer was in deep thought. "You are thinking about her, aren't you?" She said with a smile. "...wha..." It took him a second to figure out.. "You mean...." One of the fallen, one whose body was recovered and given a hidden grave.

"Yeah.. I mean 'Ananka'."

(To be Continued in New Testament 002: Drown your Sorrow)


	2. Drown your Sorrow

**New Testament 002: Drown your Sorrow**

Colins LP: 8000 Girls LP: 8000

"How do you know...about her?" Colin asked the girl. She just said the name of a friend, a friend who died, and a friend that not many people knew about. "Ananka? When did you.." But now she chose to not respond, she just stared at the cards in her hand. "Of all times, now you stay quiet?" He placed a monster of his facedown on the field, thinking she would speak if her turn began. Yet he was still being ignored, she drew her sixth card and continued to look away. "_She wanted me to think about Ananka, and that's it? She must have known how I would react.." _The girl placed a monster card facedown and ended her turn. "You say so little, can you not even tell me your name?" No luck, the girl even had her eyes closed.

This lady was beginning to tick him off. "...Guess I will 'duel' first. I summon Blockman." A monster (1000/1500) made from lego blocks appeared. "And I also flip summon my other card." He flipped his first monster face-up, it was a machine. "Healing Wave Generator(400/1600). This card restores lifepoints, 100 LP times the level of one face-up monster of mine." The Generator tuned in on Blockmans four levels and healed him by 400 points. "But that was not what you were waiting for, is it?" He entered the battle phase. "No, I think I will attack with these cards, I don't care if its defense is high." The Block monster punched the opposing set card. It flipped and shattered, the card looked like a fossilized deepsea creature. "Thanks, you killed a Trilobiter (1400/800). Now I can do this.." Suddenly a new monster came from her deck, a fish-type. "Eh?" When a Trilobiter died, she could special summon another deepsea creature, an Unshaven Angler (1500/1600). "You run a fish deck?" Colin was suddenly less worried about the opponent. He placed two traps and ended his turn.

Colins LP: 8400

_Trilobiter 4/1400/800 Water/Fish  
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon 1 water/fish-type monster with 1500 or less ATK from the deck.  
If 'Umi' is on the field, you can special summon any lv4 water/fish-type monster from your deck instead._

"Yup. The Fish subtype is not that threatening in this game, so when you lose, you will feel so much more shame." She drew, and immediately tributed the Angler Fish for a tribute summon. "The Angler card counts for two tributes if its tributed for a lv7-8 water-type monster." She smirked as she called out an even older looking Fish, with brush-like fins. "Super Ancient Deepsea Coelacanth(2800/2200)!" It was the strongest fish in the game of Duel Monsters. "_Say that ten times fast, geez_." The Deepsea Fish stared at the exposed weaklings before it. "It came from the ancient times, to take down the future seer. I attack Heal Wave Generator!" Coelacanth dove into the ground, headed towards the Healer. "_Since when can fish swim in the ground?... never mind._ I activate my counter trap: Negate Attack, your battle phase has ended!" The Deepsea King was pushed back by a forcefield. "So you evaded the end this turn. But there is more to the card then attackpower." At that point she discarded a card from her hand. "Huh?"

From a stream of holographic water came four new monsters in defense mode. "What the hell?" The Catfish Deepsea Macrotrema (600/100), the Clam-hybrid Oyster Meister (1600/200) and two trident wielding Ocean Keepers (1500/1200). "If you could summon that many, why not do it before you attack?" He asked. "Because thats the cost. Coelacanth can special summon up to four LV.4 Fish-types from my deck, if I discard a card. But none of these can attack or activate their effects. However.." She suddenly tributed one of the Ocean Keepers. "Hey you already normal summoned this turn." He protested. "True. But an Oceans Keeper can be offered for a special kind of summon." In its place came a fish in defense mode. The weird part? It was made entirely from eyeballs. "Thousand Eyes Jellyfish(300/2100) is one of two that can be called out by an Oceans Keeper.. And its many eyes have the power of true sight" Suddenly all of its eyes turned to Colin, and he was forced to reveal the cards in his hands. "What the?"

The three cards were Greed Quasar, a Noisy Gnat and the spell card: The Rich Get Richer. "Nothing will be hidden from me now." Her turn was over. "Feh, laugh it off. But now.." He finally activated his signature trap card: Dora of Fate. "It is time for my favorite combo." He tried to target The Deepsea King, so that he could start a combo to inflict 4000 effect damage to the girl. "That old trick? It will not work." Yet before the Dora trap could affect the King, another monster came in between. Oyster Meister grappled the card and destroyed itself to take it down. "Hey, did you see my previous duels or something?" He cursed. "You missed some text. Coelacanth also can tribute Fish-types other then itself, to negate all effects that target it." At the same time, when an Oystermeister was sent to the grave, he would leave behind a Clamshell-token (0/0). "_Wait, I thought all those monsters had their abilities blocked?" _He soon found the loophole in that contract. "_Oh, right. Monster effects that resolve after they are dead, can not be negated."_

At least now he could start his turn and use an effect of his own. "Blockmans been on the field for two turns, so it can split apart into two Block-tokens." The lego-monster split into two pieces, he sacrificed both. "Come out, Greed Quasar!" His favorite monster card arrived, the level seven demon (2100/2100). "Sure it can not match your Ancient King, but..." He discarded the Noisy Gnat card from his hand. "When I discard this insect, it boosts a monsters level by 1 until the endphase." Greed went up to 8 stars, thus also its stats shot up (2400/2400), as it gained 300 attackpoints for each level it had. "Not enough, can't you count?" The girl laughed. "Who said I was attacking that ancient thing? I simply wanted to bypass some defense points." Instead he aimed for the Jellyfish. Greed grabbed it with its arms and swallowed it whole. "All those eyes looked yummy." Greed gained the stars of its meals, so the five stars of the Thousand Eyes turned Greed into a lv.13 monster (3900/3900). "And now who is stronger?" His battle phase ended. "Still my turn." In his Main Phase 2 he reactivated Healing Wave Generator, gaining 1300 lifepoints for all 13 stars of Greed. Then he switched the machine to defense mode.

Colins LP: 9700

"Oh before I forget." Since he had a lv7 or higher monster on the field. He could use The Rich Get Richer spell card. "Draw two cards." Now that his hand was again a secret to the enemy, he was free to replenish it. "Ah that felt good. Your move by the way." She drew her card. "Sure." First thing she did in the main phase was sacrificing the second Oceans Keeper for a fish with a great brain, the Cranium Fish (2400/1000). "The second fish a Keeper can summon, I presume?" She nodded. "Next I normal summon a Golden Flying Fish." A shining fish (1700/1000) fluttered across the field with its six fins. "Great now the fish are will fly in the air as well." Sairve snarked. "It has an effect too." The girl grew a nasty smile, as suddenly both the Oyster-token and Deepsea Macrotrema gained a golden glow. "I can tribute a Fish-type, to destroy something else.." The golden glowing clamshell slammed into the Generator, while Macrometa strangled Greed Quasar to death. "What the heck, that thing killed my army!"

He was wide open. "Oh and Deepsea Macrotrema's effect also activates once it dies, bypassing the seal placed on it. It can boost all other Water-monsters by 500 points during the turn of its demise." Her three fish powered up (Coelacanth: 3300/2200, Cranium Fish: 2900/1000, Golden Flying Fish: 2200/1000). "Ah crap." They attacked him all at once, all directly. "So much for not getting hit." Then to add insult to injury, during her main phase 2, she activated Salvage. "I take two water-types with 1500 or less attack back from the grave." She reclaimed both Ocean Keepers. "I discard one to reactivate Coelacanths effect." There were 2 open slots, so it special summoned two new Fish-types: another Deepsea Macrotrema (600/100) and an Abyssal Kingshark (1700/600). _"Ggh, she is going to crush me before she runs out of fish." _He cursed his luck. "I wonder what I should do with you once I win this. I have no idea as of yet. But the more you prolong your defeat, the more creative I can get." She allowed her turn to end.

Colins LP: 1300

_"Wait a second." _He looked at a card in his hand and started counting something on the field. "It is your turn you know." The opponent grew impatient. "Oh.. I know, heheh. And I will activate...this!" He played a spell; Star of Oblivion. If there were 20 or more level stars on the field, it could destroy all monsters. "I checked, there is a total of 25 stars on the field. I'd say thats plenty to trigger this spell and wipe your army out!" He didn't use it before since it would kill his own monsters as well. "Gah!" All of her Fish were wasted by the star energy. Since this effect affected everyone at once, Coelacanth could not save its own scales by tributing another. "Bye bye Fish army, hello oppurtunity of direct attacking." With glee he normal summoned a prophet monster: Herald of Creation (1800/600) to the field. "Take this!" She attacked directly with her staff, inflicting 1800 damage. "Oh, you finally did some damage, bravo." She clapped her hands. "But its my turn now." She drew again, and gained a rather vicious trap. "I set this one facedown..."

Girls LP: 6200

"...and I summon Oceans Keeper (1500/1200) in attack position. End turn." Colin drew another monster from his deck. "_This is a trap, obviously.." _But he had no other choice then to attack her, he needed to do some damage, or else he would never find out who this girl was. "I assume you have no more monsters in your hand, I will see soon enough." He summoned his Hunted Agent (2200/0), a monster very strong for the fourth level. It allowed the opponent to special summon from their hand in return. "Meh, you were right." Unless she had nothing to summon, her one remaining card was just a spell, so nothing happened. "Okay then." Both monsters charged. "But I prepared a counter, duh!" And then she countered with Fish Depth Charge. "This trap card will sacrifice one Fish-type, to destroy one of your cards, and letting me draw from my deck!" Oceans Keeper suddenly launched forward, piercing and killing the Hunted Agent. This left the Herald alone in her continued direct assault on the female duelist. "Grand..."

Girls LP: 4400

With her trap cards effect, she drew the monster Moisture Creature, from her deck. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." The girl drew once more, and played this card. "Premature Burial." She payed 800 LP to equip the spell to the Deepsea King in her cemetery, reviving it to her field(2800/2200). "Oh you uncreative.." Her plan for victory was ready. "I discard a card." She could special summon four new fishes with its effect, and sacrifice three to special summon her monster. Moisture Creature would destroy all of his spells and traps if it was summoned like that. "And.." But there was a snag... three snags actually. "Ojama Trio!" Before she could do so, Sairve flipped his trap and summoned tokens of Ojama Green, Black and Yellow to her field (0/1000). The token trio took up three of her monster zones. "Not enough room." He grinned. "Argh.." She could only summon one monster, another Trilobiter (1400/800). The Super Fish could still attack though, and he crushed the Herald with its tail. "I think I know what I want now."

"I want to see you suffer."

Girls LP: 3600 Colins LP: 300

"Now thats a sudden tone of ch..change of tone.." He was taken aback a little. "Did we meet before, is that why you single me out?" There came no answer. "Silent mode again eh? Doesn't matter, its time to wrap this up" He flipped his second trap card: Nightmare Telescope. "If my field is completely empty, this card will count the number of tokens on the opponents field and summon just as many to mine." From the telescope came three Ojama-like tokens (0/0). "These tokens prevent summoning during this turn, but this is not 'my' turn." The girl flinched and switched to the endphase. "Good, good. Now it _Is_ my turn." He drew, and shook his head. "Man, the future really does not like you." He did a tribute summon, for a centaurlike Lion warrior. "I call Beastking Barbaros(3000/1200). When it is tribute summoned with three tributes.." The Beastking roared and the sound vibrations shattered both Coelacanth, the Ojama tokens and Trilobiter. "It kills all my monsters?" She was shocked. Plus when an Ojama token was destroyed, the controller would lose 300 LP.

Girls LP: 2700

_Nightmare Telescope, Normal Trap__  
You can only activate this card if there are no other cards on your field and when there are tokens on your opponents side of the field.  
Special summon Star-tokens (1/0/0 Light/Pyro) to your side of the field equal to the amount of tokens on the opponents field.  
If you activate this card, you cannot summon other monsters this turn._

So she lost 900 LP already when the three tokens were killed by the effect. "Guess...I win.." He wasted no time and sent Barbaros to stab the girl with his spear. In that instant, the holograms faded and the dueldisks de-activated. "Now... tell me why you know so much about me, and Ananka.. who are you?"

Girls LP: 0

She hesitated for a little while, but then she calmed down. "I ..I am.. I am the first. More will come, you can not stop the seven revolutions." The girl finally answered, leaving Colin utterly confused. "Come again?" He would like a repeat off that. "..Look behind you!" She suddenly pointed at nothing behind Sairve, yet he looked anyway. "_Oy!..thats my own trick_.." Too late he realized he only saw his shop back there. By that time the girl had already started her escape run. "Hell no you don't!" He followed, since he was not letting her go without an answer. Not after he won that duel. He did not need to chase for a long time though. He stopped around a corner, and found something he did not expect. "Why is..."

(To be continued in New Testament 003: 100.000.000 BC)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve**  
Healing Wave Generator  
Noisy Gnat

-_  
Nightmare Telescope_

**Cards used by 'The Girl'**_  
Trilobiter_  
Unshaven Angler  
Super Ancient Deepsea King Coelacanth  
Deepsea Macrotrema  
Oyster Meister  
Oceans Keeper  
Thousand Eyes Jellyfish  
Cranium Fish  
Golden Flying Fish  
Abyssal Kingshark  
Moisture Creature

-  
Salvage  
Premature Burial

-  
Fish Depth Charge


	3. 100000000 BC

**New Testament 003: 100.000.000 BC**

"Why is she..." Colin stumbled upon the girl he dueled rather quickly, just around the corner in fact. "Lying here?" But she was no longer conscious, she sat there, slumped against the walls. "_Oh that can not be good. Now people will start thinking... things_." He looked left and right and saw no-one around, nobody who could have gotten the drop on her. Unless they could move faster than lightning. _"Do not tell me she knocked herself down to avoid giving me answers, while making me look like a very angry fortune teller_?" He got close, and turned her head. What he saw was disconcerting, this was no ordinary spell of unsconsciousness. She was barely breathing, and her eyes were wide open. "_Damn it. I need a payphone, this one looks like she needs some medical care real fast_." And when he touched her, he received a strange static shock in his hand. Nothing else happened, but it flt really weird. "First she challenges me, and now she can not even answer me." This was the weirdest day of the year so far. "What the hell is...."

"...is going on?" Christine wondered to herself, since this guy in front of her was not answering. Though considering he had her dueldisk in his hands, the answer was obvious with hindsight. "A duel. Here, right now?" That did not mean she could forego any second thoughts. Nobody that could enter her house, pick up her disk and take it all the way here, was a savory fellow. "These people sleep, you noticed?" He pointed out the other passangers of the subway. "Your doing, I assume. And you wont release them from said slumber, until I defeat you?" She heard this kind of story many times before. Well in fantasy novels she did, and then they did not consider card games. "Yes." He had already activated his and drawn his five cards. "Ladies first?" She asked cautiously. The hooded man nodded. "You can never be too sure." She drew six cards, and the duel was on. "Can I at least get your name?" But to that he shook his head. "Not yet." He did not like to waste words apparently. "In that case, lets start this."

Strangers LP: 8000 Christine's LP: 8000

"I normal summon Julie, Warrior of Fire in attack mode." Her fire elemental knight (1900/1600) was her first choice of attack. "Bit cramped in here." The holograms barely fit inside the metro car. "I end my turn." The other nodded and drew his sixth card. "We are entering the second turn." That sentence had more meaning then she could imagine. "I normal summon this dinosaur-type, the Black Veloci." A dark scaled raptor (1800/300) came to the field, snarling at Julie. "_Ever since those things have been represented with feathers, they just dont look as scary anymore_." She thought. With more then one cause, since Julie had more attackpoints. "Not quite...This monster has a special effect. When it attacks." The velociraptor charged Julie, gaining a powerboost (2200/300). "It gains 400 attackpoints." It pounced on the woman with its talons. "Oh no...you don't." She suddenly discarded a card from her hand. "She has an effect too: I can discard a warrior-type from my hand to keep a warrior like her on the field."

Christine's LP: 7700

She had thrown away a Jacks Knight, and the fire warrior kicked the raptor away. "The damage still sticks." Once the battle phase ended, Black Veloci lost its boost (1800/300). "My turn?" She inquired. The opponent placed one card in his magic/trap zone. "Now it is." And she was allowed to draw. "Funny thing that..." She read the fine lines of the Black dinosaurs effect text. "Says there your monster loses 400 attackpoints when it is attacked." She normal summoned Zane Baker (1800/1900) to her side of the field. "True." He hesitated to confirm, but could not deny. "Well then, here it comes. Double strike!" Black Veloci (1400/300) was slain by Julie, while the younger son of John attacked the stranger directly. She had gained a favorable lead now. "I set a card, and end my turn." The enemy acknowledged and moved on. "That will do for a training round. Here is where the real game begins. You may recognize this card." He summoned another dinosaur, but he special summoned it. "Gilasaur?"

Strangers LP: 5700

Christine did indeed know that card, her friend Colin used it as well. "You special summoned it from your hand, that means I can special summon as well, right?" That was the drawback of a Gilasaurus, the opponent could revive one monster. And she had one monster in her grave. "I revive Jacks Knight (1900/1100) in defense mode." But then the other produced a smirke. "Trapped you." He flipped his trap, Hunting Instinct. "When the opponent special summons a monster, I can special summon a dinosaur from my hand." He placed another monster on the field. "Ultimate Tyranno!" It was the second strongest dinosaur (3000/2200) known to the game. "Oh crap, an exploited exploit." She now saw why he was not adverse to allowing so many warriors on her side of the field. "At the start of the battle phase, Ultimate Tyranno attacks all monsters on the opponents side of the field." She could not discard a warrior to save Julie this time, she would keep being attacked by the T-rex until her hand was empty or Julie stayed dead.

"Now..a normal summon." He had still not used his regular summon for the turn. "When a dinosaur is sacrificed, Super Ancient Dinobeast can be tribute summoned with one tribute." He summoned the dragonlike 7-star dinosaur (2500/1400) by tributing his Gilasaur. "Battle phase!" The T-rex roared and used his tail to simultaneously crush Julie, Zane and the Jack of Cards. She lost 2300 lifepoints. "Direct attack." The Ancient beast attacked next, releasing a laser at the girl. "Draining Shield!" But she flipped her trap, negating the damage and converting it to 2500 lifepoints. "Thanks for the refill." She gained more then she lost this round due to this. "I see." She had not used it against Tyranno, she knew it would be pointless since it would not continue to attack afterwards. "Set a trap card, end turn." Finally his onslaught ended. However... "_Darn. I can not destroy either of his cards with this." _All she could do was place a monster facedown, and a spell that might scare her opponent away from the mindset of battle. "Thats all, end turn."

Christine's LP: 7800

"That is all, is it. I expected more." He drew again. "From the wielder of Hermos." Her eyes widened. "How did you?" And he ignored her shock. "Trap card, Fossil Excavation." He discarded a card from his hand. "I can discard a card from the hand, to revive a dinosaur. Its effect is negated however." He resummoned the Black Velociraptor (1800/300). "Observe: Super Ancient has a second ability." Whenever he revived a dinosaur while the Dinobeast was on the field, he could draw a card, which he did. "Now.. tribute summon." He sacrificed the Raptor for a long-necked dinosaur. "Leve 8 card: Saurobeast Brachion (1500/3000). Just like the Dinobeast, it can be normal summoned with 1 dino-tribute." He entered his battle phase. "Ultimate attacks first." The Tyranno chomped down on her only defending monster. Next she received the direct attack from Dinobeast that she would have received last turn, the laser hit her square in the chest. "Finally." Brachion, who was really cramped in this narrow area, used his long tail to knock Rose back.

Christine's LP: 2300

Strangely this blow cost her 3000 lifepoints, not 1500. "Any damage Brachion inflicts is doubled." He had forgotten to mention that ability before he struck. He forgot to explain its third ability as well. "Brachion can switch itself to facedown defense mode during the endphase." The longnecked beast flipped itself down. He again placed a trap facedown, the one he had drawn with the effect of Dinobeast. "Your turn." He chuckled. "Oh, so you can laugh at least." She drew, and smiled back. "But I am not going to run anymore." She summoned the oldest son: Rjak Baker (1900/1800). "What?" Before he could figure out what her plans were, she revealed them with the spell. "Kataryken Power." Rjaks body started to glow, energy surrounded him. "This spell will give a Baker family member his Rjak-form." The kid roared as he unleashed his new strength (3000/2900), a golden aura surrounded him. "Attack the Super Ancient Dinobeast!" Right now it was the only one it could kill, but she knew he couldnt kill Rjak with Ultimate Tyranno. "Tsk." He lost his Super beast, and 500 lifepoints. "I set a card, and end my turn." The mystery man drew again. "I did not expect you to have that 'power-up' for more then one Baker card. Oh well."

Strangers LP: 5200

_Kataryken Power, Normal Spell  
Send 1 monster with 'Baker' in its name to the graveyard, to special summon its retrospective 'Kataryken' card from your hand, deck or graveyard. This cards activation can not be negated_.

_Kataryken Rjak Baker, 8/3000/3000 Light/Warrior  
This card can not be normal summoned, this card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Kataryken Power'.  
While this monster remains face-up on the field, you can discard a card and select one monster on the field. That monster can attack twice during the battle phase.  
During your third standby phase, send this card back to the deck, and special summon a 'Rjak Baker' from your hand, deck or graveyard._

"My facedown card by the way, was intended for defense." His trap was Meteorain, which would give his monsters the trampling powers to hurt her, even if she was defending. "But since you resorted to attack, I have to change my plans. Brachion has a fourth effect." He flip summoned the Saurobeast (1500/3000). "When its flipped and summoned, the opponents monster is flipped as well." Rjak switched to facedown defense position. And then he special summoned Hyper Hammerhead (1500/1200) "This monster can send any monster back to the hand, when it attacks the monster." The T-rex had to attack first, so it stomped down upon Kataryken Baker. The enemy did not activate Meteorain, since 100 damage points was hardly worth it. Katarykens defense was equal to Tyranno's offense, so all he did was switch to a face-up position. "Hammerhead." Next the hardheaded one attacked, headbutting Rjak and sending him back to her hand. Though he lost 1500 lifepoints in the process. "_This is it. Gotta time it right.."_

Strangers LP: 3700

"Brachion." His third monster would end the duel though, with its damage doubling effect. "Uh-uh." But she flipped her trap card, Mirage Ruler. "What?" Suddenly the air in front of him rippled, and Rjak returned from a rift in time-space. "You ask a lot. This is my traps effect." She payed 1000 LP as well. "Any damage I take this turn is reversed, and all monsters sent to the graveyard are placed back on the field. I pay a thousand lifepoints afterwards." Katarykens return would stop Brachion in its tracks.. "So you lived. I switch Brachion back to facedown defense mode." He ended his turn.

Christine's LP: 1300

_Mirage Ruler, Normal Trap  
You can only activate this card if there are no other cards on your side of the field.  
__The monsters that were removed from the field this turn are special summoned back to the field in the same battle position.  
And any battle damage you took this turn are restored to your Life Points. After this card resolves, pay 1000 Life Points_

"Now I have to finish this. Or else he will just flip summon that longnecked thing again." She drew again. "...Spell card!" And activated it. "Arms Hole!" This turn she could not normal summon. But she could add an equip card from her deck to her hand. "I discard the top card from my deck and take Genji Gloves from my deck." She equipped Rjak with the gloves, reducing his attackpoints (2000/3000). "What?" In return, the Gloves would allow Rjak to attack directly during this turn, so she was willing to weaken it. "There is more. Kataryken Rjak has a special power." She discarded one card from her hand. "For a discard, a monster on the field can attack twice." Rjaks golden glow turned into a lightblue-one. "Itself too?" She nodded this time. "Yup." That meant Kataryken Rjak could make two direct attacks this turn. "To activate the effect of Genji Gloves, I must pay 500 lifepoints." Her LP dropped to 800. "Now that that is done, I strike!" Kataryken fired two powerful sword slashes, hitting the stranger. His life ran out.

Christine's LP: 800 Strangers LP: 0

He collapsed back into an empty seat, grunting in pain. The duel holograms faded, and it seemed to get less dark inside. "You...thank you.." He coughed. "They will be..free.." Rose put away the dueldisk and ran over to him. "Who are you? What did you want from me?" She asked. It was better to get questions now, before everybody woke up again. "Heh.. you haven't seen...anything yet." He still smiled, as if he had won the game. "Two down, five to go. You are good... like Colin." She flinched. "What..what happened to Colin? Who are the seven!?" But it was too late, she could see it in his eyes. The enemy was slipping away from consciousness. "No, stay awake!" She shouted. "The third is... C..tr... my name is... T.." He finally blacked out, slumping towards the floor. But she heard, she heard names.. "Carter!"

It indeed fell on Carter to defeat the third visitor. "So we come to the third turn." His hooded enemy smirked. "What are you talking about? The game has not even started yet." Carter scoffed. "You will understand soon. Now then...Since I am the trespasser, and you are the host, you should go first. I made the first move already by setting up this duel." William reluctantly drew his six cards. "It is a little too late to be kind. True generosity would not have consisted of a game in the first place." He growled "Ah, but are you not being unkind yourself? Denying me the honor of dueling with a sword wielder?" He drew five cards. "That does not apply here. And if you know that, if you know so much about me, then I should get to learn more about you as well." He grunted. "Oh. You want to learn, of course, where are my manners." He said in a sarcastic tone of voice, and reached for something in his coat. "What are you.." Carter saw him take out a wallet. The man stared at a pass card inside and laughed. "Yes.. Turner will be my name."

Trespassers LP: 8000 Wills LP: 8000

(To be continued in New Testament 004: Forever Winter)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose**_  
Kataryken Rjak Baker_

_-  
Kataryken Power_

_-  
Mirage Ruler (+)_  
(_Based on the trap used by little Yugi in the Ceremonial Duel.)_

**Cards used by 'The Stranger'**  
Black Veloci  
Gilasaurus  
Ultimate Tyranno  
Super Ancient Dinobeast  
Saurobeast Brachion  
Hyper Hammerhead

-  
Hunting Instinct  
Fossil Excavation  
Meteorain


	4. Forever Winter

**New Testament 004: Forever Winter**

Strangers LP: 8000 Wills LP: 8000

So Colin and Christine had conquered their foes, not realizing how unified the opposition was. And now Carter had to drive out the one who ruined his day. "Turner huh..." He placed two spell/traps and one monster facedown. "Yes it will be my name." He casually tossed the wallet aside, on Andre's tomb of all places. He then placed one monster facedown and ended his turn. "..." Will did not know what to make of that display. "Draw." But he did know what to do with the opponent in a duel. "I flip summon Card Trooper (400/400). I can discard the top 3 cards from my deck to improve its attackpower." He discarded three cards (Heavy Mech Support Platform, Twinheaded Behemoth and Malevolent Catastrophe), and the gunner machine powered up for the turn (1900/400)."I am ready to attack you.. almost."

"Next I normal summon a CyberDark monster: Cyberdark Edge (800/800)." This machine could equip itself with a LV-3 dragon in Carters graveyard, he picked the Behemoth he just discarded. Its attackpoints (1500/1200) were added to the winged Cyberdark (2300/800). "Now then. I attack you, Turner!" The Trooper fired both barrels at full power, destroying his facedown monster(1000/300). And then Cyberdark Edge moved in for the kill, when. "Heh." Two more of the same crritter(1000/300). "Hyenas?" He had killed a scavenging animal: Hyena, when one died two more come from the deck to the field. "Tsch. Dont forget, Cyberdark Edge can attack directly." Though the damage it inflicted would be halved if it attacked directly while a monster was on the field. "Take this!" Dark metal slashed against the hooded one.

Turners LP: 6850

"Heh. Angry arent we?" He drew another card and then he sacrificed the left Hyena. "I tribute summon the Big-Tusked Mammoth (2000/1000)." Will looked at the monster. "What is the theme of your deck anyway?" He asked. "Another question? I already told you, this is the third turn. We have entered the ice age.. a cold and dangerous era. You never know when someo..Smashing Ground!" He suddenly activated his normal spell, destroying an enemy monster on the field with the highest defense, that was Cyberdark Edge. "Hey." It was swallowed by the ground of the cemetery. "One target left." The Mammoth cried out as it raised its long nose and stampeded over towards Card Trooper (400/400). Neither of his facedown cards could help William right now, so it died. "But when Card Trooper dies, I get to draw one card from my deck." He drew and obtained a Cyber Dragon. "And in your endphase, I can special summon Twinheaded Behemoth back to my field with its own effect." The twoheaded dragon came back, weakened (1000/1000).

Carters LP: 6400

"Then its your turn." William drew again, and obtained Polymerization. "The materials are all here." He summoned to the field Proto-Cyber Dragon (1100/600). "Two Cyber Dragons in my hand, and one on the field. I special summon my fusion monster!" He activated Polymerization, fusing all three machines. "Come out, Cyber-End Dragon(4000/2800)." The three-headed dragon dominated the dueling plane, standing fearless under the falling rain. "And now I.." Yet Turner flicked his finger in disapproval. "Tsk. Did you lose the ability to understand text?" He pointed at his Mammoth. "This card has an effect: monsters can not attack during the turn that they are summoned. Not even fusion monsters." Carter cringed, he did overlook that fact. "Fine. Then I guess I end my turn." He grinded his teeth. Right now being delayed was not feeling good. But it would get worse for him. "Heh." Turner had drawn a card he rather liked, as his smile betrayed. "I win." He summoned a cute little kitten to the field, wearing a workers helmet.

"Rescue Cat(300/100)." The duelist blinked, what could that little thing do? "Rescue Cats effect, you don't know this either? I thought your brother taught you everything." He tributed the Cat. "I can sacrifice this monster, to special summon two level-3 beasts from my deck to the field. They are destroyed afterwards during my endphase." He searched his deck and called out two smaller mammoth-animals. "Last Tusk Mammoth(800/1200). These also have a special power." He entered the battle phase. "What?" William did not expect them to charge him, and of all things they headed for Cyber-End. "What are you doing?" If they hit, each would be destroyed and cause 3200 damage to Turner. "I am finishing you. Duh. When a Last Tusk Mammoth attacks, the damage is contained, and given to the one that killed the beast." He pointed his finger at the dragon and then at the opponent. "In other words, you will take 6400 damage this turn. The perfect calculation for your defeat!" They were almost upon him.

_Last Tusk Mammoth 3/Water/Beast 800/1200  
The opponent takes all battle damage to this card's controller that he/she would have taken from a battle involving this card._

"No I will not" But he flipped his facedown spell. "Cybernetic Zone." And suddenly, Cyberend Dragon became one with the darkness, fading away from his view. "Oh?" He had remove the fusion from the field until the endphase, denying Turner a big wall to slam his mammoths against. "Oh well." Instead he recalled one of the creatures, and sent out the Big Tusked elephant. It crushed Twinheaded Behemoth under its feet. "So you lived a little longer, good for you." Next the second Last Tusker hit the duelist with its nose. "I do not really care either way." He finished his turn, at which point both Mammoths were sent to the graveyard. "Hmph." At the same time, the Zone opened and sent Cyber-End back to the field. "A monster thats been inside the Cybernetic spell zone, will have its attack doubled (8000/2800)." His Fusion monster was truly destructive now. However. "Heh, big talker. You also know that your monster will die as soon as your turn begins. Thats the drawback of using that spell." He chuckled as he waited for it to happen.

Carters LP: 3600

"Not just yet." Will came prepared for such an eventuality. "Hm?" He flipped his trap card as well; Rollout. "I can special summon a Union-monster from my grave, and place it on a target." He revived the Heavy Mech Support Platform (500/500), which attached itself to the threeheaded machine, giving it more points (8500/3300). "So? It will still.." But as the standby phase came and the Zone tried to reclaim its visitor, only the Union Mech was destroyed. "Uh oh." He realized that William could sacrifice the Platform to keep his Dragon on the field, due to the standard Union effects. And it was still twice as strong as usual (8000/2800). "Indeed, 'uh oh'." He wasted no more words on the trespasser and entered the battle phase. "Good thing I kept that weakling scavenger alive." He did not target the Big Mammoth, but the third and final Hyena. "Even if its in defense mode, CED can inflict piercing damage." The difference between its defense and the fusions attack was definitely too much to survive. "Be gone!" The attack came.

Turners LP: 0

It landed perfectly, taking out the beast master. He fell backwards, landing next to Andre's grave. "Ouch." William approached the man. "You got your duel. Now you can leave." He said as he grabbed him by the collar. "What? So soon? I thought you wanted to ask a lot of questions!?" He was still sporting that obnoxious grin, he had had enough of it. "Who are you, really? Why did you follow me?" Turner was right after all, there was a lot to be answered. "Relax. I will tell you more and more, each duel. But for now, lets just say that my name is not actually Turner." He started to sweat. "And your victory means nothing really. I still got what I wanted. A nice fresh soul. My master will be pleased, the Card.." He started to cough in mid-sentence. "Well looks like my time is up." Carter let go off the man, wondering whether or not he had been too rough. "What is your name...then?" The stranger shrugged as he slumped to his knees. "I still dont know that...eheh. Say.. say hello to Christine and Colin for me. I am looking forward to seeing ...." And then the hooded man collapsed completely.

Just like the girl that dueled Colin and the man that fought Christine. "_What? Why them?!"_ He did not know why, but he had the feeling that he was supposed to go elsewhere. "_I am sorry Andre. I need to see this through_" He looked one last time at the tombstone and left. The authorities could deal with the trespasser's body.

_"Gah. I knew I should have checked my messages." _Once he got back home, he checked his phone and saw that there were several from overseas and some from closer areas. He had not inspected his calls before, his mind to occupied with the visit to the cemetery. Just as he started the tape and heard a familiar voice, when the doorbell rang. "_Shoot." _He pressed pause and ran for the door. "So this is your place. Nice." And he was shocked to see his old friend Colin stand on the other side. "Dude. We need to talk." Williams expression of course was colored with surprise. "Colin? When did you get here?! I thought you were busy in.." His appearance was so sudden and appropriately timed as well. "I arrived this morning. You weren't home so I waited around and left some messages." The ones that were playing in the background right now.

"Tsk. I guess I should have told you. But every month I pay a visit to my brother.." He sighed. "Brother? You mean Andre..but he is...oh. Oh!" He slapped his forehead. "Sorry..gah. I forgot.." He took a step back and sat down on the porch. "It's okay. I never told anyone besides.." But just then the seer saw the dueldisk on his arm. "Wait you went to the graveyard with that thing on?" It was not that usual, and that reminded him. "Oh no... dont tell me." He heard a story like this before. "Tell you what? This disk is.. I dueled someone back at the.." Colin quickly rose up again. "You dueled a mysterious stranger that has the audacity to go into your house and steal your disk and then start a duel? Yeah.. join the club. We already got two members, and I decided to hold a special meeting..." He sighed.

The two left the area, after William had checked all his messages and made sure that trespasser had stolen nothing else from his house. Though the former was not really needed, since Colin and Christine were the ones on the answering machine. "Its odd really. One week ago that girl came to me, and dueled me for no proper reason. And then she collapsed. Had to call emergency, and she is still comatose in a hospital. Then the same thing happned to Christine yesterday, only with a different person and a different deck." And in her case, the stranger got confident enough to steal her deck and disk. "Wait, so it happened sevena days ago for you? Why didn't you call earlier?" Carter asked him, the timestamp on the messages were rather recent. "Because I didn't make the connection myself until Rose called me about her case. One duel you could think off as a random encounter, but three is not random at all." Right now the two had gone for the nearest train station. "So she called you, told you about her ordeal and then asked to meet here?"

Apparently the next train would have her on it. "Well you were the easiest to reach. Nobody responded to our calls yet, we can't even reach Cable. All I got on the line was some representattive from his company. Outerdeck said they would look into it." He spat, he still did not trust them. "I can understand not wanting to talk with us right now: Jackson and Cable. They have other matters to attend too." He referred to another individual. "If you mean a certain slimy weasel managed his way out of a prison sentence, reduced it all to community service for the companies he tried to swindle. Then I agree, that deserves some attention. Its too good for him." The one they referred too, was the very same man that tried to kill them once. "Though I mostly dislike him for making so many weird new cards, what the hell is a Tuner?" He realized he trailed off. "Oh and... no idea where Nero and Cleo are these days, but we knew where to find you." To which Will added. "But apparently so does whoever organizes all these duelists for us."

At that time the train came stopped in front of them. Few people came from it, but among them was. "Christine!" Colin waved. "Guys." And they had gotten her attention. And it did not take them long to fill her in on the discussion so far. Carter being targeted was new to her. "You as well? That makes three of us. I didn't know what to do after I defeated mine. He fell down and people started panicking. The news is already blaming 'that disease'." They all remembered the horrible cover-up story the government made to keep the country from panicking. "The medics had no idea what was wrong." As he listened William flinched. "Oh whoops. I forgot I left that Turner guy behind. Hopefully the undertaker wont be too shocked." He laughed nervously. "Turner? At least you got his name." She did not sound very happy. "You know, we have to warn the others somehow. They might be in danger.."

"Wait. Who says this is just our problem, why would only we be targeted?" A silence followed, they all looked down. Colin and Rose at their bags, William at his disk. "Are you thinking, what I am.." Before anyone answered, they opened their bags, suitcases and pockets. They took out their deck, and showed the bottom card. "Yes. It could be because of this." They were the three swords, the ones given to them in a dream. "Someone might want the dragon cards, they know about Atlantis."

(To be Continued in New Testament 005: Like Old Times)

**New Cards used by William Carter**  
Heavy Mech Support Platform  
Cyber End Dragon

-  
Polymerization

-  
Rollout

**Cards used by Turner**  
Hyena  
Rescue Cat  
Big-Tusked Mammoth_  
Last-Tusk Mammoth (+)  
_

_(Based on the monster used by Noah in the YGO Virtual Arc)_


	5. Like Old Times

**New Testament 005: Like Old Times**

Three dreams, three special cards; these were the dragons that could fuse with other cards. William had Timaeus, Colin had Critias and Christine had Hermos, they used these to combat the threat of Tum'aga. "Why did we keep these again?" Rose looked at the red dragon card. "Well as the pharaoh-ghost-thing said half a year ago. We are not out of the woods yet. We stopped Orichalcos from ending humanity. But there is now another threat out there, supposedly." They remembered their past enemies, the wraith nicknamed 'Jacob', and another horrid face. "This is oddly familiar, isn't it?, these people..could be possessed." The name fell quickly. "Glyph?" The vampire with the power of the millenium rod, he was a likely candidate. He had the power to control weaker minds."Can't be it, can it? Glyph died..." They were still clueless. Whatever was going on, they knew that the enemy could be after their three dragon cards. "I wonder why, they don't do anything anymore." Just then another train came into the station.

"Oh, thats right! We have to take this one. You aren't needed elsewhere right?" The boys looked at her with perplexed glares. "Well no.... not right now. Haven't even found a hotel to stay in." Sairve shrugged. "Why?" The train stopped and its doors opened. "I forgot to tell you. But I did get an answer from someone before I came here. And he told us to take the other train, we have to go to the city." She stepped in, the others followed. "To meet who, exactly?" But they were still rather wary of their surroundings. "Its Cable. He wants to see us."

Once they got on board, the discussion was able to take a more lighthearted tone. Mostly they were now curious what exactly they had been doing with their time. "Eh, I like to keep my business simple. Probably because Ananka would have done the same. I hardly duel anymore." Colin explained. He was naturally still entertaining people with his inverted predictions. "Hmm. I play sometimes. But between all the new books, the new classes and my concerned parents, I don't get much free hours." Christine sulked. Ever since that day, mom and dad had been reduced to overly concerned shadows of their former selves. "And I do not even know what I have done lately." William said. "The days go by so fast. I can not even find a decent job. The only good thing about being hushed by the government is all the royalties we're getting I guess." That was true, to keep the world at peace, every witness of Tum'aga's terror had been given hush money. "Seems only Cleo, wherever she is, duels all the time lately. And thats just ironic."

Finally they arrived at the heart of the big city, in an underground station. "So where is Cable then?" Was their first question. The city was as busy as ever, but no Fraser in sight. "He did not say that, actually. He would find us.. not the other way around." Apparently he did not think the lines were secure. "You could have told us that earlier." Yet as excited as they were, it would all have to wait. Their first step on the stairs was greeted with a chiding voice. "Well, look who finally came: Christine, William and Colin. Its been a while." The words belonged to someone who could have been their friend, yet the tone made it impossible to expect to see Cable or anyone like him behind their backs. They turned around and saw an unknown man. "All three together. Good, that makes this much easier." They figured him out... "He is one of them.."

Though they did not know how he found them. "Heh, right answer." He did not deny their accusation. "Okay.. can we skip all the trash talk then? Just who the hell are you people, what do you want from us?" Colin asked loudly. "Quiet down, Colin. People may hear you and then.." The unknown placed a dueldisk on his wrist. "We will not be able to have the fourth match." The others glared at him, they felt something was strange. "Oh and 'you' people? Geez, don't tell me you have not seen the inside. Especially after you shared stories." He chuckled. "There is no plural. Its all me, fellas." Then Carter realized. Back when he dueled his opponent, that guy told him to say hello to the other two, as if he had already met them. "Turner..." The others eyes widened with confusion, but the enemy narrowed his eyes. "I knew you were the smartest one." The others took a while to grasp what was implied. So he continued to talk. "Yeah, you can call me that... Turner. It suits my style. In case you dont get it yet, this is the fourth body I have infected."

Finally they became aware of Turners true nature. "You are... you are a parasite?!" Rose cringed, it instantly reminded her off Jacob. "Easy on the harsh words, Rose. I prefer co-spirit." Another uneasy silence followed. "So.. thats how you keep finding us. You just posses whoever is closest and engage. When we defeat you, you leave the body and the strain on the host puts them in a coma." Christine deduced unhappily. "Indeed. So if you are that anxious. Lets not hold back, I want to play with the three of you. All against little bodyless me." He activated the dueldisk. "You are asking for it." Carter clenched his fist. The others moved for their luggage. "Whatever deck you have, you cant defeat all three of us. Hell you can not even beat us one on one." Colin smirked. "Deck? You mean... oh man. Not even that you know." Turner shook his head. "I will show you then. The fourth turn of the world. First there was nothing but water. Then came land, the dinosaurs, the ice age. Its time travel people, that simple."

It made sense all of the sudden, his previous three decks all followed each other, history-wise. "And after the ice age, came what? Why its that species called man. The age of humanity is upon you.." Turner seemed very enthusiastic about this duel. Everyone activated their disks and decks. The villain pulled his from thin air. "No more pretending. You already know that 'I' am a magical duelist." He had not actually been inside their homes to pick up their dueldisks, he could just materialize any cards or dueldisks whenever he wanted. "_Figures. If he wanted our dragons, he would have just taken them while we were not even home_." This enemy wanted more than cards. Each player drew from their deck. "This is a tagteam duel, but I wont need to raise my lifepoints for this occasion." So he and the trio both had 8000 lifepoints. "I will start us all off though." He drew his sixth card and placed it facedown. He also placed a trap card and ended his turn. "_Dawn of Man he says...what deck suits that age_?"

Team Dragons LP: 8000 Turners LP: 8000

Then the order of his opponents would be decided "We shall follow the alphabet, first Christine, then Colin and finally William." He smirked. "Okay, I will start.." Rose felt colder now, knowing that this Turner person was similar to the man she feared the most. The ghostly Jacob had also acted like a parasite of minds, in particular her mind. "I summon Card Blocker (400/400)." The Blockers special effect allowed it to be summoned in defense instead of attack. If the enemy attacked, she could intercept the strike. "I also set a trap card." Next came Colins turn. "Main phase!" He summoned the 8-star Beastking Barbaros with its effect. "I can call this monster called without tributes, though in that case its attack will be lowered (1900/1200)." He also placed a trap and ended his turn.

"And finally me." Will was last and he had his own plans. "I place two cards facedown." One was for defense, the other for offense. "Next since you have a monster on the field, and I dont, I can special summon a Cyber Dragon(2100/1600) to the field in defense mode." For his normal summon, he placed a monster facedown. "Thats it for now, I end my turn." He felt that everyone had covered their fields quite well. "Cool. My turn then. Now I can show you what my fourth deck is." He activated a spell card. "Enchanting Fitting Room: I pay 800 LP to draw five cards from my deck." A curtain appeared in front of him. "And if there are any lv2 or lower normal monsters among the cards, I can special summon those!" The duelists had a bad feeling about this one. Turner took his cards and smiled "I have two!" He discarded the rest and called the cards out. "I special summon Oppressed People (400/2000) and People Running About (600/600)!" A group of slave workers and a group of peasants came to the field. "What the?"

Turners LP: 7200

The first was an aqua-type, the second was pyro. "Oh no, you mean.." Turner nodded as he flip summoned his facedown Thunder monster, United Resistance (1000/400). "These three cards were made for each other. When the three groups of people unite. A Trap can be triggered." And then he flipped the key card. "Huge Revolution!" This trap could only be activated if Oppressed People, People Running About and United Resistance were on the field together. "Now all cards on the field and in your hand, they will all go 'poof'." Slaves, citizens and rebels banded together, wiping out the fields of the three opposing duelists. Will managed to activate his spell card: Power Wall in time, discarding 7 cards from the deck to strengthen his Dragon (2800/1600), but since it died as well, there was evidently no point to it. "And now I attack." They had nothing left to defend with. "I normal summon the Emissary of the Oasis(600/400) and attack." The three elemental people and the blue desert maiden hit the players for a total of 2600 damage

Team Dragons LP: 5400

"Oh this is wonderful. We're getting our asses kicked by a Huge Revolution deck. I cant wait to tell Cleo that one." Colin cursed. "I set three trap cards facedown, and end my turn." Turner said, so now was Christine's move. "_With our hands and fields destroyed. Anything we do depends on a draw_." And what she drew was not very game-changing "I summon Kings Knight (1600/1400) and attack Oppressed people!" She figured she would go after the weakest monster first, and the Face Knight killed the slaves rather easily. "Hey, his life.." But Turner did not take any damage. "That won't work." He pointed at the Emissary. "This card has a special effect: when a normal lv3 or lower monster dies, she can stop the overflow of damage. In other words you can not hurt me." Christine was forced to end her turn. "Then we will destroy the Oasis monster." Sairve claimed. "Wont work either. She can not be attacked as long as I have lv3 or lower normal monsters. Heheh. And before I forget." He flipped a continuous trap. "Human-Wave Tactics." Suddenly another Oppressed People (400/200) showed up. "Not that card. Every time one lv2 or lower normal monster dies, he can replace it with another during the endphase." Will explained.

"Quite so." But Colin had seen enough. "I know what the Emissary of the Oasis does, Turner. But I am still going to kill it." He summoned the monster he had drawn just now. "Machine Lord Ür." It was a red armored machine with no legs and long arms (1600/1500). "Funny thing. This monster cant inflict battle damage, so your Emissary's job is not needed here. But what it can do is this." The Lord opened missile compartments inside its body and limbs. "It can attack every monster once." Four missiles were fired from the Machine Lord. "Oh!?" With that salvo he cleared the field, killing the three Human monsters, and then finally the Emissary. "And Human-Wave Tactics can only replace the lv2 or lower monsters. So the lv3 United Resistance and the effect-using Oasis Magician stay dead." Turner seemed shocked, yet he got over his emotions awfully quick. "Will they now? I activate the trap card: Over Limit!" He payed 500 LP to play this card. "What the hell?" And all three human cards (400/2000), (600/600), (1000/400) returned to life.

Turners LP: 6700

"This card revives any normal monster killed this turn, if it has 1000 or less attackpoints." All three of the Revolutionizer fit that criterium. "You want to start the combo all over again?" Rose asked. "Yes, I do." His third facedown trap was another Huge Revolution card. "And now Human Wave Tactics restarts!" He replaced the two lv2-lv1 monsters that were destroyed by Ür, with two Pharaonic Servants (900/0) from his deck in defense mode. "Gah, all for nothing." Colin had to end his turn, Ür was all he had. "I would not say that Colin. You helped us by getting rid of The Emissary. Now at least we can inflict damage again." William smiled and drew a card, which he summoned. "Cyber Valley(0/0)." He looked at Christine. "If you let me, I will sacrifice Kings Knight with this cards effect." She agreed full-heartedly.

"Okay! I remove Cyber Valley and the Knight, that allows me to draw two new cards." Everyone held their breath for that moment. "...I win." And Carter played two spells at once, Power Bond and Cybernetic Fusion Support." Their lifepoints were cut in half by the second spell, and a fusion summoning began with the first. "This better be worth it." And since Power Bond inflicted effect damage during the endphase, this entire turn had to be worth it. "It will be. For I remove the components in my cemetery, to fusion summon Cyber End Dragon!" With Power Wall he had discarded two more Cyber Dragons from his deck to the cemetery, so the material was all there. Power Bond doubled the three-headed machine dragons power (8000/2800). "That thing again? You already used that to defeat me before... how boring." Turner moaned. He was aware of the fact that a direct hit from CED, the trampler, would deplete all of his remaining life in one turn. "Deal with it." He attacked, destroying People Running About, inflicting 7400 points of damage to Turner.

Team Dragons LP: 2700 Turners LP: 0

_Cybernetic Fusion Support, Continuous Spell  
Activate only when you play a spell or trap card that special summons 1 machine-type fusion monster from your extra deck.  
If you control all fusion material monsters listed on the selected fusion Monster on your side of the field or in your Graveyard, pay half of your life points to remove the fusion material monsters from play instead of paying the summoning conditions listed on the Spell or Trap Card._

"Heh. Always do.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 006: A Fools Sacrifice)

**New Cards used by William Carter**_  
Cybernetic Fusion Support  
(Based on the spell used by Zane/Ryo in YGO GX)_

**New Cards used by Turner (Fourth Revolution)**  
Oppressed People  
People Running About  
United Resistance  
Emissary of the Oasis  
Pharaoh's Servant

-  
Enchanting Fitting Room

-  
Huge Revolution  
Human-Wave Tactics  
Over Limit


	6. A Fools Sacrifice

**New Testament 006: A Fools Sacrifice**

A Limousine stopped near the station, a man opened the door and stepped outside. At first he appeared to be calm, yet he quickly began to ran down the stairs when he did not see any of the people he was supposed to meet. And his worst fears had been realized, when he came to the underground level, and saw the four. They were in a duel, nobody else seemed to notice. And the duel was just about over, William Carter sent his large threeheaded machine dragon to trample all over the opponents monsters and lifepoints. "No wait!" He shouted out loud, but for the fourth of seven heroes it was too late. "What, Jack you are here?" Jackson Doe was his name, the dark haired man who always looked like he could use some sleep. The game had been decided in the favor of the trio. Or had it? "Too late. I got it." The man, Turner, chuckled as the life inside started to dwindle. "No!" Jackson shouted as he came closer, everyone else was confused by his appearance and behavior. "It was a trap."

Turners LP: 0

Will, Colin and Christine were still confused. "You three, he tricked you." Only then did Carter remember what Turner said before, when he dueled him by himself. Turner mentioned the freeing of souls, just not his soul. "He is a parasite after all! And he...gets a soul no matter who wins the duel?" He finally figured out why all the people slipped into a coma. It was because of this guy. Every time he lost, he took their life essence with it, and this would be his fourth victim. "Three turns left." He started to sweat, the sign of the body's mental breakdown. "See ya in a few minutes." He smiled at them, especially Jackson, knowing that he had not prevented this, despite him knowing so much. "NO!" And the body fell, the mind was gone. "Jackson?" They did not know what was going on, wasn't Cable supposed to meet them here? "What was he?" They asked eventually, as they stood over the lifeless vessel on the floor. "He is a dark spirit like Jacob. He has seven lives, seven bodies to possess... seven duels to play."

"And on the seventh life, he will be able to raise his master, the Ka Magus.."

"Mag..Ka...what'd?" Colin stared at him dumbfounded. "Jackson? What are you saying, how did you.." The others were equally confused. "This will take some time to explain. Thats also why I called you all here. Alas, he found you first." Jackson pointed at the body of their former enemy. "We received your calls. After the second strike against Christine, we started digging around in museum records. That's when we found out what you are up against." He looked around, trying to see if any bystanders were paying attention to the scene. "Okay...and where and what?" Doe expected this question. "This.." As he quickly took out something from his suitcase, photos and files. He handed them out. "Our missing friend, Anima, set us on the right track. Remember that he found the first museum..back when he was... still with us." That did bring up the not too pleasant memory of him going halfcrazy and trying to kill everyone. Yet now he was presumed dead, killed while trying to fend off the one-eyed demon of the depths.

"We took these pictures at that museum, and spread out from there, trying to find more of the stone tablets which hold the stories..." The first museum had the most important stone tablet, the door of the Memory World. "So what are we looking at, we can't exactly translate hieroglyphs." The pictures had several stones on them, all with with old Egyptian text. "That one." He picked one photo. "That is what matters. It roughly translates into a story about 'he who crawled across the earth in seven days'. That is the true identity of your friend Turner." Seven days, that math was clear. "That's what he said, three down, four to go. Now its four down, and three to go. Damn it, he wanted to lose all this time!" The soul that was taken, was this mans true self. The body did not move, it barely breathed. "How much is written down about this character then?" Doe took out a file, which contained all the translations. "Not much actually. Its just ancient Egyptian folklore, probably a rare story told to children so they would behave"

"The crawler was punished by the gods to walk the earth in seven days. If he failed to do so, his body would rot to death and he would have to try it all over again in a new body. Only once he succeeded, would he be able to enter the afterlife and find rest." That was the whole fable. "So where does this Magus figure into this?" They came back to the darker subject. "Ah cross-referencing. A creature that might be the crawler is also mentioned in several texts that concern the Ka Ruler." He showed more photos. "Supposedly there is an evil entity behind every shadow spirit that plagued the world, someone that has mastered the bonds between the human soul and the beastly spirit. We only found records of it, when we tried to find an origin for Jacob. And one thing led to another. Both Jacob and Turner are connected."

"This slab had the most worrying sentence." He showed a rock tablet which also had an image of its own: the sun cut in half by seven swords. Inside that sun was a black eye. "You think, thats what he needs seven souls for, to destroy the sun?" Sairve was rather skeptic about that possibility. "Its just a figure of speech, Colin. This tablet does not mention who gathers the seven swords, but what is freed is definitely the Magus Ka." He took the photos back and closed his suitcase. "And we dont have much time, he will be back for us, three more times. We can not under any circumstances, let him.."

"Already am."

At that moment, their gathering received an intruder. "What?" A girl was now in their midsts. "You.." And considering the words she chose, her identity was all too obvious. "Yes hello." She waved and smiled pleasantly. "Turner... back to being female I see." The seer rasped. "I go with what comes first to me. It goes quicker now. The first time I had to wait seven days before I could return. Then it took me one full day, then an hour. Now its just a matter of minutes." Everyone took a step back. "So Jackson, fancy seeing you here. I did not expect you to find all that stuff out about me." She looked mildly upset. "What gave you the first sign? Did your split personalities feel something? With which of them are you speaking now, Lucifer, Shiva?" Doe did not respond, he feared that this spirit would also know about 'them'.. "Oh well. I have enough fun with the four of you. What do you say, Jackson! Wanna duel me next?" She moved closer. "Oh guess I first have to pick up the disk from corpse number four."

But Rose stepped in his way. "Why?" Her face wrecked with anger. "You want three more souls. Why do you have to duel us for that?" Christine shouted. She hated that they had unknowingly helped him destroy lives. "Thats the rules of 'the shadowgame'. Your Ba is pure and your Ka is growing. Such a tasty soul enriches the experience of the entire exchange. It wont work if I challenge normal people." But it appeared that neither her, nor Carter and Colin, would let him get in touch with that dueldisk. "We want more answers, and we will get them. If you can not take that soul until we defeat you in a duel, there is nothing sotpping us from capturing you, is there?" William said, and Doe nodded. "Yes, we may be able to contain him back at Cable's place." He clenched his fist. "Oh, would not go there. Literally.." The Girl Turner flicked her finger, and started glancing behind. "Uh.." And then she took a deep breath, and started shouting. "EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" The scream was loud enough to catch the attention of everyone in the station.

"Oh you son of a.." They all saw the foursome standing around the body. "And that was my impersonation of a girl in panic at the sight of a murder taking place. You like?!" The crowd started to move for them. "Gah!" Some were shocked, others were raving mad. "Not good. We need to leave now!" Jackson made a move for the stairs. "What about him? We can't leave!" Christine yelled, but Colin and Will were already following Doe. "I do not think those people will believe the things that are true!" Sairve said. The crowd grew angrier by the minute. "No.." They would not listen, she was convinced of that now. "Blast it." Their escape was witnessed by a grinning Turner, still acting like an innocent bystander. "Here!" Jackson ran up to the limousine of his "What are we going to do now?" Rose asked, still wrestling with guilt. "We can settle this later. Cable has connections with the local authorities, we can clear it all up. But first we have to reconvene and discuss this enemy. And how we will stop him."

So they entered the car, Jackson drove around for a little while, but suddenly he stopped. "Huh?" And he got out. "Wait, what are you doing?" They were in the middle of nowhere, at the edge of the city, surrounded by warehouses. "Is something wrong?" They all stayed inside, and they could see that Doe was on edge. "..." He looked to his right and his left. "I felt a pulse. The same as an hour ago, and yesterday." He got back inside and shut down the engine. "We are not alone." And right on cue, someone approached the four. "No way." It was another random citizen, a young worker. Except this time there was not even a slight time period in which he would have fooled them. "Hello again!" It was Turner, in his sixth body. "What the hell? How did you catch up with us, and when did you change bodies?" They were more frustrated than worried. "Oh, I did not tell you? I can trade bodies whenever I feel like it, the host wont remember a thing, and I get to keep up with all of your movements. I have had so many hosts already. And as for my tracking abilities. I can pretty much find you wherever you hide, I can sense your cards. Your dragons, Jacksons Personae, thats what I am following." He took out another dueldisk.

"You were waiting for me to drive to Cable, werent you? You are after him as well." Jackson grunted. That would be a bad news, Cable worked with lots of people. If Turner could possess any of their bodies, they would not be able to stop him from taking any information they gathered. "You will not find him." But this posed a question, why did he not just go after Cleo or Nero. Certainly he should have been able to sense them as well. They did not have dragons, but they had 'the puzzle'. "Okay I heard enough of this joker." Colin stepped up. "If you wanna duel, lets duel." He placed his own dueldisk on his wrist. "Wait, Colin, what are you doing? You know you are not supposed to win this!" Will said loudly as the seer left the car. "Don't worry. I have a plan." He smirked and walked up to the possessed worker. "Awww, you again. You already beat me twice. I was hoping for some refreshment, going up against Jackson and all." Turner sighed and activated his disk too. "Yeah well whatever you are, I am your guy."

Turners LP: 8000 Colins LP: 8000

"Well in that case. The fifth turn commences, we go beyond the medieval times now,. humanity evolves even further!" He drew five cards from his deck. "So, Turner. Let me get this straight, we can not win by beating you, you will take their soul if you do." While Colin drew six. "That is correct. I need that soul." He looked at his hand. "And violence otherwise will not do any good, I assume. Since we will only damage the body and you will just skip to another host." The enemy nodded 'his' head. "But tell me, what happens if you do not get your soul? What if the opponent will not duel you into submission?" Turner raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?" And Sairve started to move his hand towards the deck. "This..." And placed it on top. "Whaaat!?" The sign of surrender, he forfeited the duel almost instantly.

Colins LP: 0

Turner stared at the seer, dumbstruck by this move. "You can not take the soul now, can you?" He chuckled. "...." But the crawler shook his head. "There are so many ways in which I can bring this up. But I will choose the fastest method." He extended his hand towards the losing duelist. "The Game, you just lost it." And before he or anyone else could realize it, the body of Sairve collapsed like a sack of bricks. The light left his eyes, and the rest fell to the ground. "Colin" Rose cried. "He...he took His Soul?" Only now did they realize that that had always been an option.

"Well, duh! I never said I could only take souls when I lose. If I win, I get to take your souls. It does not matter to me anymore. I have four already, thinning the ranks would not hurt my chances to get the last three." He closed his eyes and took in some air. "Make that, the last two." The fifth victim was the seer, everyone was stunned. "Colin, no!" Christine shouted as she watched the limp body of Sairve fall to the ground. "You tricked him!" Carter growled. "Tricked. Me? Thats a lie and you know it, he fell for that on his own." The possessed man chuckled, and he sounded almost insulted. "I never changed the rules of this shadowgame. My powers remain consistent for millenia." He just did not bother to explain the rules. "Pity though. I really wanted to use my fifth deck. Oh well, guess we can skip that century." He laughed. "Next?"

(To be continued in Testament 007: Clockwork Mind)


	7. Clockwork Mind

**New Testament 007: Clockwork Mind**

"I crawl the world in seven days, to find seven bodies to raise my master of the seven elements. Its a kind of magical number, wouldn't you agree?" He took out one deck from his dueldisk and inserted another. "I challenge special souls that have a great hidden power. You may know it as 'Ka'. Once the duel is in progress, the souls can not escape their fate. Either I lose the spirit of my host or the opponent loses his, so in effect all I need to do is to enter a game. The only downside is that I can not forfeit manually." They knew why. "Because your own soul is never at stake, is it?" Jackson sounded so displeased, his words might as well have been poison. "If you wanted a soul, why take his? Why not mine." Rose yelled at him again. "You do not get it yet, do you? It does not matter, whether he goes first or you do. In the end the Magus Ka will make sure everyone is in for it. All of us have been trapped inside his prison for far too long, time will let hatred grow and fester. This world will belong to the darkness.."

The others stared at him and at the suitcase back in the limousine. "Prison... where did you come from?" Turners smile widened. "An easy question. You see there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who have bodies, and those who are without them. We are of the latter, and I learned to make use of my formlessness by taking control of other bodies. Does that sound familiar?" That sounded like a certain friend. "Yes, we named him before, you call him Jacob. And where did he come from? The same place that you once visited, the memory world!" Everyone gasped. "Yes! Jacob was trapped inside that item. The Millenium Puzzle was the prison of us all. Some were lucky to escape like Jacob, when Nero's father found the puzzle pieces. He and I share a similar fate." He looked at the sky now. "I was judged by a pharaoh. Do not remember which one, not the one that you met. You heard a story, now let me tell you how it really happened. The tablets were made to cloud the truth, they lied to you."

"I was supposed to walk the world in seven days, only because that guy did not like having an inhuman like me haunting his kingdom. If I succeeded I could pick any body from his city and use it permanently, the reward was never the eternal rest. He wanted me to fail, obviously. I tried to win by hopping from one body to the other, only to get caught before I even left Egypt. As a result of my cheating, I ended up as a spirit trapped inside another dimension. Which was where I remained until I met 'him'." They knew now he referred to The Magus Ka. "The Ka ruler found my wandering form, and liberated it. Allowing me to try over that trial again. Only this time, the judger is someone who understands me. If I deliver her seven great souls, I will be able to open a pathway for the Magus. And then finally, I can ascend and become something more then a nobody." Turner reminded them of Jacob, but Anima as well now. Anima's special power was to copy the powers of all those around him. "Enough mincing about the past."

He activated his dueldisk. "Someone here will duel me now, or I will cut this poor bastards throat with my own hands." He pressed against the workers throat. "You can not incapacitate me, I will just bodyhop to a free host and kill that one." He licked his lips. "I will tear a path of suicide throughout this country, if thats what it takes for someone to duel me." Jackaon had heard enough and stepped forward. "Oh? So I finally get to face the host of twenty-one personalities? It was about time." He checked on Colin one last time and turned to his enemy. "It is for revenge huh? Don't even think about that, you can only save his soul by defeating me permanently. And I will never allow that." Both players drew five cards, and Doe was allowed to get the first turn. "This game is not starting because of your misplaced sense of justice, its starting because you have no choice, because I want it too begin!" Jackson merely sighed, placing one trap card and one monster card facedown. "Then you should not waste time." He replied.

Jacksons LP: 8000 Turners LP: 8000

"Oh? I wonder, which voice is that?" He looked at his hand. "I have so many choices to pick from. There were..oh wait I miscounted before." He was talking about Jacksons specialty, the fragmented mind. Inside his body were many spirits that represented aspects of his personality. They were called the Personae, however they were not eternal. "There are twenty left, Tum'aga killed one, did they not?" Doe just glared. "It must be a wonderful thing, to be able to sacrifice a part of your existence just like that. You could die ten times and still kick your killer in the face. I can relate to that." Finally he played one of his cards. "Ancient Gear Field spell: GearTown!" They were already surrounded by smoke stacks and factories, yet that did not seem to be enough for the shadow. They were instead surrounded by wheels pipes and clockwork. "I already explained my motif. We go through time as we duel. It reflects the history of duel monsters, and my own life. Because I will tell you, I lived a lot longer then I should have."

Next he played a continuous spell, Ancient Gear Castle, adding a Castle area to Geartown. "This spell increases my monsters attack by 300. We have entered industry times, mankind has learned to craft machines, ancient gears!" Then he normal summoned a monster, a mechanical soldier with a drill on its hand. It was powered up by the Castle too (1800/1500) "Wait a second." Carter recognized that monster, but not the field. "Ancient Gear Engineer, a level 5 monster." Levels above four usually needed tributes. "Nope. Geartown reduces all needed tribute costs for Gears by one, Engineer needs no sacrifice. It is nice because Ancient Gears can usually not be special summoned." He entered the battle phase. "But when an Ancient Gear attacks, you can't chain with traps or spells!" The Engineer struck, drilling Jacksons facedown Persona to death. "Furthermore, when this monster attacks, it can destroy any random spell or trap card." At the same time Jacksons trap was shattered. "And now... its your turn."

Jackson nodded and drew a card. "Soulnado." He first played his own continuous spell, a tornado of spirits swirled around the Gears. "This spell huh.." As long as it was on the field, the controller would gain 500 LP whenever he summoned a Symbol-card, and the opponent would lose 500 LP if that Symbol killed one of his cards. "Fool." He summoned the Zero Arcana to the field, Orpheus the Harp wielder (1100/500). Jackson gained 500 lifepoints. A Symbol could get three effects, depending on what effect was activated before it. "The last effect to activate was my own spell. Orpheus gets his spell effect." Orpheus gained 1000 attackpoints during the battle phase (2100/500), in its spell-mode. "I attack your machine!" He wasted The Ancient Gear Engineer, inflicting 500 effect damage through the Soulnado at the same time. "Heh. That was pretty good. Mister Fool. But I want to see a lot more from you." Doe ended his turn, the bystanders were not sure if they should be excited yet. The loser would still lose their soul..

Jacksons LP: 8500 Turners LP: 7200

"Watch this." Suddenly he removed the Gear Castle from the field. "When I summoned the Engineer, Ancient Gear Castle gained a counter. I can sacrifice the Castle to tribute summon a monster, using all counters as tributes." Normally that meant he could special normal summon a level 5 or 6 card, but with Geartown still in play, that number went up to 8. "Heh. Come out, Ancient Gear Golem(3000/3000)!" So he was able to summon the strongest machine in the Gear arsenal. The trampler Golem. "Take this, idiot symbol!" It was probably overkill to go that far, but the Golem slew Orpheus(1100/500) with one swing of its fist. Just like The Engineer, it could not be stopped by traps. "Well. If I remember correctly, there is no Arcana in your deck that can match this golem in strength, aside from Death. It would be really cool if you could show me that one." He finished his turn. "Don't flatter yourself." Doe said to him, with a less pleasant tone then before. "Oh, then what are you choosing?"

Jacksons LP: 6600

"Spell card: Velvet Room." Jackson could discard Persona Monsters from his deck, until they doubled the level of a monster in his hand. He discarded 16 levels worth of cards, to call out. "Persona of the Star, Lucifer." The fallen angel revealed himself (3000/1600), giving Jackson 500 LP. "Now, the tower." Lucifer Doe played a field spell card: Tartarus Tower. "Ah, another simila.. what?" The ominous green light of the Dark Hour construct destroyed the refineries of Geartown, only one field was allowed at any time. "I see." Lucifer was now stronger than his Golem, because the Tower strengthened any Persona by 200 points (Lucifer: 3200/1800). "But..when Geartown is destroyed, I can special summon a Gear from the deck." He summoned a spearwielding Ancient Gear Knight from his deck, in attack mode (1500/1500). "_Huh, why did he.." _Yet summoning so weak, Turner must have wanted Jackson to present a better target than the Golem. "I attack your Knight card." Right now, Lucifer did not feel like holding back.

Jacksons LP: 7100 Turners LP: 5200

Lucifer broke right through the monsters shield. "Turn end." He declared quickly. "Hee. I knew this Personality would be too cruel to allow a weakling on the field." Turner drew again. "And now the card has come." He flipped it around, showing it to everyone. "Power Bond." Carter flinched, he of all people realized that spells potential, it was one of his favorites. "Fusion!" Turner combined The Golem on his field with two Ancient Gear Monsters in his hand. "Three Ancient Gears come together to form one fusion monster behemoth." The Golem gained more armor, its claws became sharper and longer, it even had an extra set of legs to walk on. "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!" And its power, originally already very high(4400/3400), was now twice as lethal (8800/3400). "I am pulling out the best for this duel! Jackson Doe, you must appreciate this fusion card, because you know you love fusing stuff to yourself! But now you can become part of me instead!" The Ultimate Golem readied his claw. "I attack the current you.."

"There is nothing to stop this, is there? Even if there was, you can not activate traps in this machine's battle phase." The fallen angel was crushed by all that metal, and 5600 damage was delivered to his hosts lifepoints. "Quite the fix we are in, eh?" He finished his turn afterwards. "Yeah its strong. But do not forget that you used Power Bond to double its strength." William Carter said from the sidelines. "I am aware of that. Power Bond takes away life during the endphase." Turner too lost LP, an amount equal to the 4400 original attackpoints of his fused Golem. So both players were down to around a single thousand. "But hey, what does it matter to me? If I lose, I get this body's soul. If I win, I get your soul. No matter what happens, the arrival of my master is running along smoothly." Jackson sighed and drew a card.

Jacksons LP: 1500 Turners LP: 600

"You are right... but I will not yield. It is my turn." He drew and activated a spell card. "Extension of One's Mind." He could search his deck for a Persona, he had to choose carefully. "Seth!" He added and normal summoned the black dragon Seth, symbol of The Moon (1600/1200). "Jackson, what are you doing? Why are you summoning him in attack mode?" Christine gasped. "Because he knows the Golem has a piercing effect. Even in defense mode he would suffer more because Seth has less defense points. And this way his spell card: Soulnado will give him 500 LP." Jacksons life went up to 2000. "So what? One shot from this thing will end this duel, no matter what Persona I face." Turner laughed. "I am not done yet." The dragonic one spoke, as the main body placed a trap card. "Is that supposed to scare me? A trap card. You do realize I am just going to waltz over that when my turn comes." He said smugly. "Go right ahead." Doe ended his turn, Rose and Carter held their breath. "Heh. I win." All he had to kill, was that Symbol.

Jacksons LP: 2000

It would have been so easy too, except the trap was sprung one phase to early. "What?" Jackson flipped his card: Mind Infection. "You're joking." He was not. "I send five Personae from my graveyard, back to my deck, to destroy all monsters on the opponents field!" He returned Orpheus, Lucifer and three other symbols, and allowed the infection to spread across the machine. "But machines can not get sick, can they?" Even Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem was corrupted and part after part collapsed from its body. "Yes! Traps can still work if they are used before he declares an attack!" Will cheered. "Meh. I miss the old days, where attackpower meant something." Yet not all golem parts left the hologram grid. "Hey..." Instead they came together, re-assembing into a smaller form. "Oh, I forgot to explain? When the Ultimate Golem dies, I can special summon a regular from the grave. Free of requirements." His first Ancient Gear Golem(3000/3000) haunted the field for the second time. "Lets try this again."

But something else happened. "Now what?" The dragon started to glow. "You activated a monster effect, this is followed by Seths own monster effect." Seth assumed its monster-mode. "I can shift a monster into facedown defense position until your next turn." He smirked as the Golem was forced to defend itself and hide. "Oh sneaky. You think like a shadow, while you aren't one. Then again, I dont even know where you come from." But that would soon change. "This is just a temporary setback. You can not hide from the sixth revolution forever.."

(To be continued in New Testament 008: Home is nowhere)

**New Cards used by Turner 'Sixth Revolution'  
**Ancient Gear Engineer  
Ancient Gear Golem  
Ancient Gear Knight  
Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem

-  
Gear Town  
Ancient Gear Castle  
Power Bond


	8. Home is Nowhere

**New Testament 008: Home is nowhere**

Jacksons LP: 2000 Turners LP: 600

Turner ended his turn. His Golem had been switched to defense by the Moon persona, Seth. "That was close." It did not look good. That Golem that could kill Jackson with a mere gesture. "I have no choice." He summoned a new monster to the field. It was the Symbol of the Hanged Man, Attis (1200/1200). The continuous spell: Soulnado gave him 500 LP again. "I end my turn." A strange short turn for him, he had left himsel wide open to the Ancient Gear Golem's attacks. Then again he could not defend either. "I see what you are scheming, Symbolist. You want me to attack Attis, dont you? That would hurt you more, but.. then Seth'd get another chance to switch my golem facedown. Too bad for you, I was not born yesterday!"

Jacksons LP: 2500

He entered his turn, drew a card and switched his monster back to a face-up position. "Spell card: Ancient Gear Tank!" He activated an equip spell, giving the Golem a turret to fire from (3600/3000). "Seths effect!" But now the Moon Symbol assumed its spell ability, to flip the spell facedown. "Heh, what a wasted move." But he simply flipped it face-up again. "Dont forget that normal spells can be activated in the turn that they are set. They aren't quickplay cards." Now standing behind his cannon, the Golem fired a shot at Seth, destroying it instantly. "Ugh..I will survive." His life was not taken away completely, he only lost 2000 points. "That you did..you must feel proud." He entered main phase 2 "Yet now take a look at the fineprint here. It says that if this spell is destroyed, you will lose 600 LP. So if I were you, I would not kill the Golem with effects. Ha!" His turn was over. "Oh wait, what am I saying? I am going to be you any second now! What with the rate at which you are losing lifepoints. Double ha!" And his ranting was over too now.

Jacksons LP: 500

"Damn it." Attis was all that was left. "Draw!" He gained a trap card, he could use this. "I set this card. And then I sacrifice myself for another." Attis was tributed for the tribute summon of Strengths Symbol. "Siegfried! I am level 7 but I can be summoned with just one tribute." The blonde knight took the place of the mummy (2800/2000). Soulnado meanwhile gave him another set of 500 lifepoints. "I can see where you are going with this. Killing Siegfried won't take away all your LP, will it?" Even with the Tank, he would only inflict 800 damage. Jackson held his breath. "Meh suits me. Stall all you want, today is still everyone's final day." Doe was not done yet either, he placed a trap card. "Oye! You still do not get it, or is this another trap that can be used outside the battle phase?" Siegfried Doe still did not feel like talking. "Yeah yeah, I will have to find it out myself. Its your funeral here.." Turner drew a spell from his deck. "Hmm. If your trap is a bluff." He saw no reason to hold back. "You know what? I changed my mind.."

Jacksons LP: 1000

He activated another equipment spell, Ancient Gear Fist, adding it to his Golem. "I am going to end this game right now." And also a normal spell was played. "Spell Gear. I can forego any normal summoning until the next turn, and sacrifice three Ancient Gear cards on my field." He removed the Golem and its two equipment cards. "And now I can special summon two Ancient Golems. One from my hand, and one from my deck. Once again free of requirements." Two new Ancient Gear Golems (3000/3000) took the place off the first one. "Oh no!" If the left or right would kill Siegfried, the other would attack directly and Jackson would certainly lose his soul. "Here I come. I am entering the battle phase. If you want to activate that trap card of yours, this is your last chance." Turner waited for an answer, he wanted to hear him speak one last time.

But Siegfried was still silent, he was held back as well. "_Why are we hesitating? We can not lose here_." She thought to himself, which meant he was thinking to all the others as well. "_We can not condemn the opponents soul so easily, can we?" _That was their question, if they hit back, they would give Turner his sixth soul. "_Can we condemn ourselves instead? What good would that do."_ Siegfried growled mentally. "_Do we even know if this man can handle that? Maybe the multitude of symbols will overload the collection he already has._" The idea sounded plausible, but not solid. "_We can not risk it. There is only one certainty here. We need to act, or we will lose all control."_ There seemed to be a disagreement going on inside, but outside Turner had lost his patience. "Well whatever, you can go now." He was about to declare an attack when. And in that instant, it was as if Jackson understood exactly what would happen if he lost here. The stakes were too high. "Wait. Trap card!" He played the continuous trap: Alteration of One's Mind.

"What?" From now on any non-Persona monster that attacked in the battle phase would lose 500 attackpoints. "That took long.." It was too bad that he could not lure the Golems in for an attack though, because they negated traps once they moved. "I see. Were I to strike now, Siegfried would win the clash. Very well, you bought yourself time. Until I draw the means to destroy your trap card." Turner finished his turn, and Jackson was again left with no options but to defend. Turner would never fall for the trap, and he would never be able to summon another Persona that could kill a Golem.

"_This card_." He had drawn a monster. "Anger." It was the Support Consciousness Anger card. It could unite with Siegfried to give him 500 more attackpoints. "_Now the decision is truly ours. We can not let this man win again, and we can not let ourselves be taken. This choice will weigh on our conscience.." _And he did feel anger, anger at this man for abusing his position, forging the right to sacrifice lives for his own ends. "You suggest that we could be the same. But we are not, Turner." He summoned Anger to the field (500/500). "I hope that a higher power may forgive me. But I will not let you take this from us!" He equiped Anger unto Siegfried, who gained strength (3300/2000). "The needs of the many huh?" The knight raised his sword, and cut down one of the two Golems, inflicting 300 battle damage. "No." While Soulnado inflicted 500 effect damage. Just the amount needed to secure his defeat. "The needs of all." The enemy had lost the game, the holograms faded and the Symbols of Doe went back into his mind.

Turners LP: 0

"Heh, Listen to yourself, sounding selfrighteous and what not? I expected better actually." He slumped to one knee. "No, he did the right thing." William and Christine came closer as well. "He is not the monster here, you are. And I swear one day you will get what you deserve." He cursed. "Oh I will get something allright. But not one day, I will get it right this second. Hold on to your hats boys and girls, its time for the seventh revolution in.." He raised his hands to the sky, and was about to leave the body when. "Wait..wait..something is wrong here." The body collapsed, but not before its eyes widened and the mouth let out a shriek. "I can not...feel anything...where is it, where is everyone!" After that he was gone, so was the innocents soul. "What happened?" And just then the phone went off. "Huh?" It seemed to be an urgent call "It's from Cable?" They half-expected his call. But not at this exact moment. "Yes, Cable whats wrong?" Jackson wasted no time to answer it, and turned on the speaker. "I have to confirm something."

He spoke through the car phone, sounding urgent. "Is the target knocked out right now?" Everyone looked back at the bodies, both the nameless persons and Colin. "Ehr yeah?" They responded, confused. "Good. Good then it went just as planned." He said. And he continued to explain himself before the others could ask more. "You might have noticed that the enemy is not returning so quickly as he used to be. You see I followed your movements from afar, listened in on everything that was said." Carter blinked. "Wait how did you...oh." He glanced at his dueldisk, and at the many tranceivers back inside the limousine. Both came from the company Fraser worked at. "Yes. You bought me some time, while you dueled him Jackson, I deviced a plan to stop him, if only for the moment." He sighed. "What did you do then?"

"Its easy.. I evacuated this facility and every other in a mile radius..."

They gasped. "You could do that? When did.." They realized he did this during the games. "I have my connections. I saw to it that some local authorities evacuated this area with some fabricated threat reports, and made sure everyone avoided your location." He probably would never have pulled it off, had they still been inside the city, and not in the industrial section. "So... you removed all those people while we kept the crawler looking only at us, and now..." They got the clue. "Now Turner can not find his seventh host anymore!" Rose cheered. "Indeed. I had to cross-reference his words with what the mythological records said. I came up with an approximate range, I estimated this entity could only possess a new human body if it was within a mile of its current location. Now there are no more options, and it can not endanger us or anyone else." That left just one problem. "What about Colin. He still has his soul taken." William pointed out. "Thats ..not easy to solve. I am affraid we will need to wait and see, perhaps in time 'it' will.."

"It will what?" A voice answered him. "Give him back to you? I have a better idea." Everyone turned around in shock, as they saw Sairve standing up again, alive and well. "Colin?" Christine only had her hopes high for one instant, after that she felt something was terribly wrong. "It's.." This was not their friend at all. "It was a clever plan, Cable, but flawed." This was the crawler, possessing the body of the seer. "I never expected anyone to be able to pull out so many people in the timespan of a single shadowgame. But I underestimated the evolution of communication. Nor did I think you'd find out about that one limit." He could indeed only switch from host to host if they were in the same mile. "However, I am pretty sure that not one of your precious stones could tell you that I am allowed to re-use the bodies of previous hosts in such cases. I already conquered Colin, so there is nothing stopping me from animating him, not anymore." While this was bad news, there was a bit of good inside it too. "Then that means.. you sitll have it on you...Colins soul."

Jackson stated this, because he knew Turner could not possess dead matter. To take control of Sairve's body, he would still need his soul. "Tsch. You are correct about that. I can not convert these souls until I have all seven of them. But they are all a part of me. Only I get to decice when they go free, and thats never!" He laughed. "Now step aside." He moved forward. "Look out. He only needs to walk ten yards or so, and I will be close enough to the city to cross over!" Cable warned them through the speaker. "Will do." The trio stepped in his way. "You fools. You still dont get that I can kill this body with a single gesture?" Christine and William did remember that, and hesitated. "Try it." But Jackson was oddly cold about it. "If you do, you will have one less body to animate. If you kill the next one, you will lose a solid form forever." It was unsettling even for his friends to hear him talk like that. "Trying to act cool huh. Well it will not work because..." Just at that points, the second nameless person rose up again. "Oh no!"

He jumped into the car, before anyone could stop him. "He crossed between the two bodies!" Colins body collapsed again, and the doors of the limo were closed. "What do we do?" The wheels started moving and was about to leave the region, when it stopped after not one yard. "What?" The engine had given out mysteriously. "That was... lucky." And just like that the person slumped behind the wheel, and Turner was gone again. "Its okay." Cable's voice came through again, after a while. "I remote controlled the car to come to a stop." They were amazed, he had that much control over his own devices? "He really thinks off everything. I am impressed." Will smirked. "Wait. The phone was in the car, and its.." They wondered where his voice came from, and they soon saw the source in the flesh. "Cable!" He stood there above them, he had entered the place with a helicopter and his voice echoed over that vessels speaker. "I finally felt that the time was right for me to come join you." The chopper landed on the ground.

"Cable you... I don't know what to say." They were left speechless. "I do!" And at that time, Turner jumped up, using Colins body for the second time. "Gah he does not give it a rest!" He backed away from the others, and walked closer to the new guy, greeting him with a wide grin. "If you think you can take this to get away, you are mistaken. This also runs on an autopilot voice-commanded by me." That also meant no pilot for the Crawler to infect. "Hmm, by you eh?" He twitched his shoulders. "Well, genius. Did you ever stop to think off the consequences? I could just 'choose' you." He chuckled. "But if you had that ability, you would have taken us over days ago." Christine interjected. "Heh, I could not. Those that have seen my masters shadow can not be controlled by it." They remembered now, the dark shadow that left the Memory dimension, just before it collapsed. That was the Magus Ka, the maker of Jacob. "It is just that..." Fraser flinched, he felt a sharp pressure on his neck. "Your friend here is not one of the people who entered the World of Memories, so he never saw that shadow!" Jacksons eyes widened, but it was too late to give off a warning. "You are the seventh link!" The possession began

(To be continued in New Testament 009: Lifeline)

**New Cards used by Turner 'Sixth Revolution'**  
Ancient Gear Tank  
Ancient Gear Fist  
Spell Gear


	9. Lifeline

**New Testament 009: Lifeline**

Time slowed down, all colors turned to grey, this was how Cable experienced his own possession. He could not hear his friends shouting for the time that Turner left Colin to take his mind. "No...Cable." For a second, everything went dark, and laughter was the dominant noise in this void. "No.." But it was only for a second. "_Hold on.. This is not how it is supposed to.." _A bright flash came in the middle of all that darkness, and it instantly pushed Fraser back to a normal timeflow, his consciousness restored. The very next second, Colin got up, and wheezed. "What kind of trick...are you pulling?" He had been forcefully ejected, he could not mindcontrol him after all. "I rejected you, crawler." He smiled weakly, he seemed to be surprised and satisfied at the same time. "Only those that saw.." His speech was interrupted when he inspected the target closer. "You bastard." He saw a rope around his neck. "Yes. I came prepared, even for that." Cable nodded, tugged at the string and revealed what was around him. The Millenium Key.

One of the seven items used by the Pharaoh and his priests. The Key with the power to open hearts and minds of man. "That item?" Rose was astonished. "I forgot that we still had that one." Tum'aga had managed to find this one. And when the company disbanded, this trophy became a part of Cable's collection. The enemy understood now "You protected yourself. I can not go after those who wear the seven items either. Because..." There was a reason for that, but he was better off not telling. "I theorized as much. This must be why you did not chase Cleo or Nero. You feared they still had pieces of the Puzzle with them." His train of thought was a formidable opponent for this sneak. "You..all of you.." He coughed and looked around himself. There were no options left for him now. "Fine. Be that way. If you want it that much." He took Colins dueldisk, tossed out his deck, and inserted a new one. "Then I will play the final shadowgame with my own soul on the line!" He shouted, glaring at anyone that might take him up for the challenge.

"Then if you lose.." Jackson expected that would mean the end for the shadow. "Yes. You guessed it. But if I win, I get to take the winners soul, the seventh soul needed. And then I will still be able to welcome my master." And it was Fraser that stepped forward. "I will be the one to accept that duel then. I wont stand by any longer." He took a dueldisk from the helicopter and inserted his own deck into it. "The rest of you stand back, and take a good look at the other body. He might not be able to cross during the duel, but a safe guard never hurts." They agreed and two of them walked back to the car. "Duel!"

Cable's LP: 8000 Turners LP: 8000

"Heh. At least I get to face something new before it all ends." Turner drew his cards. "I shall take the first turn by the way." He placed one card facedown. "You listened to my duel with your friend right? Then you would know that this is the seventh turn of revolution. Before land came water, then rose the great reptilian race, before all was swallowed by the ice age. Humans ascended as the dominant force, they developed weaponry, waged wars and created machinery. Now I shall take us to the future, the final era!" He summoned a machine monster, the jetfighter Jade Knight (1000/1800). His turn ended afterwards. "Thats a long speech for something so small." Cable said. "Of all the machine decks that could represent the future, you picked that one?" Jade Knight belonged to the Vic Viper series, a set based on the game Gradius developed by Konami. Just one of the many lucrative deals Outerdeck made. "But I can appreciate that. Because what I am using now, is also based on a game." He drew a card.

Cable had made a series for himself, a card set based on the human faction in the Starcraft war games. "You mean your Terrans?" Fraser shook his head. "No. I made a new deck, one you would not be able to predict." However there were three sides to the war in that game. He summoned a monster, an alien warrior with strange armor. "This is the second race: Protoss." He had summoned the standard trooper of the Protoss Army, a Zealot unit (1500/1500). "Take this." The alien ran towards the Jade Knight jet and pierced it with its energy blades mounted on its wrists. Turner lost his monster and 500 lifepoints. "You will see now Turner, that this duel has to be taken seriously. After all, this is your soul we are dealing with." He ended his turn. "_If you say so.."_ The shadow thought.

Turners LP: 7500

_Protoss Zealot, 4/1500/1500 Light/Beast-Warrior_

"My turn. Also when you killed Jade Knight, I could add another LV-4 Light machine to my hand." He claimed a Victory Viper XX03 from his deck. "Now, I play a spell card. You might recognize this one too. I activate the equip card: Flint!" A strange metallic weapon with three tentacles appeared, and it attached itself to the Protoss. "What the." The spell constrained the Zealots legs and arms, and weakened it (1200/1500) "Flint takes away 300 attackpoints, and prevents it from attacking. Its based on another shooter game from Konami; Xexec." He was about to summon a new monster too. "Wait. How do you know so much about these games anyway?" Will was curious, they did not exactly exist in his times. "Heh, you forget that I can remember whatever my hosts remember. One or two knows his stuff about games." He then summoned the Jetfighter Victory Viper(1200/1000) in attack position and placed one card in the magic/trap zone. "I know about Starcraft too. However those cards of yours are new, even to Colin."

"Well, it does not matter how much one knows. The outcome of this duel can not be determined so easily." He drew his card. "I activate a field spell first: Protoss Nexus." A large pyramid-like base was placed on the ground behind Fraser. "This card will give all my Protoss monsters, 200 extra attackpoints." The Zealot gained power(1400/1700), but still could not attack. "Now I summon another Protoss, the Hero Artanis." It was the well-known scout-unit of the Protoss army, a young soldier too (1900/1600). "You stopped the Zealot, but the Protoss Hero will now attack XX03." He entered the battle phase. "Yeah, no." And at that time, he flipped his set card. "Quickplay spell card, Flint Missile!" Suddenly, the Flint equipment crushed the Zealot with its tentacles. "This spell destroys the monster equiped with Flint, and then.." The equipment spell flew across the field, and grabbed the legs of Artanis(1600/1600). "When Flint is destroyed, it instead equips itself on another monster on the field." Now Fraser was right back where he started.

_Protoss Nexus, Field Spell  
__As long as this card is face-up, all monsters with 'Protoss' in their name, gain 200 attack and defense points._

_Protoss Hero-Artanis, 4/1700/1400 Light/Beast-Warrior  
__When this monster is face-up on your side of the field, this monster's name is also considered as 'Protoss Zealot'.  
__When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, switch the battle-position of one card on the field._

"Can I go? Oh cool!" Turner drew another card. "I already used two Flint cards, might as well complete the combo." A new jet appeared, a silver fighter with three wings(1500/800). "Flint Lock?" His opponent recognized it. "Yes. It can take any Flint on the field, and take control of it." The Flint let Artanis go (1900/1600), and hid inside Flint Locks launchers. "The Lock can not be destroyed in battle as long as it has this card equiped to it." It also appeared that its attack was not weakened by 300 points. "Also, United We Stand." He played another equipment, putting it on the Victory Viper.

"Uh oh, now it will gain 800 attackpoints for each monster on his field." Christine gasped, XX03 doubled its strength and then some (2800/1000). "Attacking!" Vipers jet fired a volley of missiles that reduced the Protoss scout to space dust, taking away 900 LP. "I dont seem to be drawing the right cards, yeah." Cable looked at his hand. "Now Victory Vipers effect activates. When it kills a monster, an option-token is made. It has the same stats as the machine that created it" He smirked, as a clone of Victory Viper (2800/1000) was summoned. Because a new monster appeared, United we Stand added another 800 points to both the Jets (3600/1000). "But that token is what I will switch to defense mode, when Artanis is destroyed!" The option-token was strong, yet it could not attack this turn. "Meh, I still have one card for a direct attack." Flint Lock meanwhile sent a single missile straight at Cable, the blast of which knocked him down to the floor. "Heheh. My games are doing better than yours.."

Cable's LP: 5400

"I dont seem to be drawing the right cards, yeah." Cable looked at his hand. "I summon a Protoss Dragoon." This one was a machine unit, a fourlegged assault walker (2000/1700). "I know I can not destroy Flint Lock, or even attack XX03, but I will not be pushed into a corner!" He pointed at the Flint fighter. "I attack that card." The Dragoon fired a single disruptor shot at it, though the Jetfighter flew to left to avoid its own demolition. 500 points of damage were transferred to Turner. "I set two cards, and end my turn." This was not looking good. "I am about to overpower you with sheer numbers, any last words?" The villain asked misschievously. "Aye. Hallucination!" And his response was to flip his trap card. "This permanent trap placed four hallucination tokens to my field." Illusionary Protoss beings appeared next to the Dragoon unit, each was made from psionic matter (0/0). "Ooh, good choice. With so many monsters to hide behind. I can not even kill you with three Victory vipers. But I will still try!"

Turners LP: 7000

_Protoss Dragoon, 4/1800/1500 Light/Machine_

_Hallucination, Continuous Trap  
__You can only activate this card when monster with 'Protoss' in its name is chosen as an attack target. Special summon up to 4 'Hallucination' tokens (1/0/0, Dark/Beastwarrior) on your side of the field in defense mode. These tokens cannot attack. If this card leaves the field, destroy all tokens. If all 4 tokens are destroyed, destroy this card._

"Spell card, Power Capsule! This card bypasses the requirements for activating one of XX03's effects. Like the ability to make clones." A third Viper came to the field, all three gained triple 800 attackpoints from United We Stand (4400/1000). "Quadruple strike!" The first Victory machine pierced Protoss Dragoon with its lasers, hitting Fraser for 2400 damage. The clones and Flint Lock took down three of four Hallucinations with their rockets. Because XX03 had killed another monster, a third Option-Viper was summoned to the field (5200/1000). "Now to add even more pressure to this ultimate of duels. I tribute one of the Vipers." He tributed summoned a double-barrel machine man. "This is Cannon Soldier MK-2(1900/1200). An upgrade of the standard Cannon Soldier. It can sacrifice two monsters at once, to inflict 1500 damage to its enemies." The remaining tokens were loaded into the cannons, and fired away. Both hit Cable for effect damage. Another shot or two like those could kill him. He feared the worst.

Cable's LP: 1700

"Ugh. I am okay, Jack. I still have..." His turn came up once more. "One left." He referred to the fourth and last Psionic token. "Sacrifice summon." He tributed the Hallucination, which destroyed the permanent trap at the same time. "I will summon something up your alley, parasite. The warship, Arbiter!" A large flying vessel (200/2700) hovered in the air, at the same altitude as the Victory Viper and Flint Lock. "Heh. I like that thing, what does it do, of card maker?" The possessor stared up at it and grinned. "During the endphase it can remove from play any monster of a certain attribute." Turner had one guess. "Machine." And then the Arbiter sent an EMP-blast that shut down the flying units and the Cannon Soldier. They disappeared from the field, and their equipment cards (Flint & UWS) went along with them. "Thats a neat trick.... whats the downside?" Unfortunately, the spirit caught on too quickly. "The removed monsters return during the next turn." He reluctantly admitted. "On that note, I end my turn."

_Protoss Arbiter, 6/0/2500 Dark/Machine  
__This monster cannot attack. When this monster is succesfully tribute summoned, immediately put it in face-up defense mode.  
As long as this card is face-up, you can activate one of the following effects during your endphases.  
__-Choose one monster type. The selected monster type cannot attack until your next standby phase.  
__-Choose one monster attribute. All monsters of the selected attribute are removed from play until your next standby phase._

"......" Turner had to wait a turn before he could make another move, unless he sent something new. "Hmm, I still have one more machine based on a game." He normal summoned a bigger jet, a blue one. "Blue Thunder T-45(1700/1000). And no this did not come from the movie, but from the game Thunder Cross." Turner seemed to have a lot of trivial memories if he could make that obscure reference. "_He enjoys them..the memories of others_." Will thought. "T45 has a special effect. It can attack your monster and destroy it, and make a token of his own afterwards." Blue Thunder would not finish his LP, but the token could. Arbiter only had 200 attackpoints, that was not even enough to survive a Kuriboh. "Yet you seem to have a trap waiting for me. And I am not impatient enough to risk it all on a whim, instead I placed a trap of my own." He said, and then he declared the end of his turn. "What?" Just like that. "And now, all of my machines come back to me." Cannon Soldier, XX03 and Flint Lock re-appeared on the field. "Your move, maker."

"_Something is wrong here_." Jackson thought. That same idea passed the minds of everyone else present. "_Why would he deliberately hold back? One trap card alone could not have inspired such fear, could it?" _Cable could have lost right there. Yet he would not hold back now, mindgames were not going to work here. "It is time for you to see my strongest card, Turner." He flipped a trap card. "You know how they say that mass carriers equal instant win, in the starcraft game? Well I am about to summon it." The trap was called Stargate Transportation. A large gate opened above the Nexus base. "I can pay lifepoints to summon a Carrier, and its effects depend on what I pay." He payed 1500 Lifepoints, reducing himself to nearly nothing. "Let it come then." Turner looked at the Stargate with a strange kind of glee. "_Come on in and defeat me. You wont even know what hit you all, until it is too late."_ His eyes flashes for a second, and he loosened his grip. "_You don't even realize, where I put my soul...and where I put yours.."_

Cable's LP: 200

_Stargate Transportation, Normal Trap  
__At the activation of this card, pay any number of life points to special summon 'Protoss Carrier' from your deck. (A minimum of 500 is required)._

(To be continued in New Testament 010: Last of the Revolutions)

**New Cards used by Cable Fraser  
**_Protoss Zealot  
__Protoss Hero - Artanis  
__Protoss Dragoon  
__Protoss Arbiter_

_-  
__Protoss Nexus_

_-  
__Hallucination_

**New Cards used by Turner 'Seventh Revolution'  
**Jade Knight  
Victory Viper XX03  
Flint Lock  
Cannon Soldier MKII  
Blue Thunder T45

-  
Flint  
Flint Missile  
Power Capsule


	10. Last of the Revolutions

**New Testament 010: Last of the Revolutions**

Cable's LP: 200

"Here it is, the Carrier." A machine ship flew in from the Stargate to the field, it strengthened itself with 200 points from the field card: Protoss Nexus (3200/1700). "This card has three effects, depending on how much Lp I payed for the Stargate, I can pick one, two or three at its arrival." The Protoss Carrier opened several missile compartments. "I payed 1500 LP so I can chose the highest number. Effect three: this card can attack as long as there are monsters on the field!" He pointed at Turner and all five of his machine cards. "Take this! I will decide this in one turn!" And the machine unleashed its terrible salvo. Destroying Blue Thunder T45, Cannon Soldier MK2 and Flint Lock, reducing them to molten star metal. Turner only had 1700 LP left, the fourth strike would end it all. "This is it." The gang cheered, it looked like everything would work out. Victory Viper XX03 was the last card in front of the enemy. "Cable, stop!" Yet Jackson was anything but estatic. "What?" The duelist stopped in the middle of his charge.

Turners LP: 1700

_Protoss Carrier, 8/3000/1500 Machine/Light  
__This monster can only be special summoned through the effect of 'Stargate Transportation'.  
__Depending on the amount of lifepoints payed, this card gains one of the following effects:  
__500 or more - When this card attacks a monster in face-down defense position, immediately destroy the monster without applying damage calculation.  
__1000 or more - You may skip the battle phase of this card to destroy one spell or trap card on the field.  
__1500 or more - This card can attack as long as there are monsters on your opponent's side of the field._

Turner was susprised too. "What is your problem?" The symbolist glared at him in response. "You..trickster." He growled. "Cable. Do not do it, do not attack!" He turned back to his fiend again. "Why, whats wrong?" He did not end his battle phase yet. "It is a cheat. He is trying to cheat his way out of losing." He said, breathing heavily. "What do you mean, he wont win if I.." Doe shook his head. "No, I can see the setup for what it really is. We do not know how he did it, but he made an escape route. Cable.. his soul is not inside that body." Everyone gasped, and looked at the possessed one. "So... you get it?" He had a very annoyed expression. "Then what is..oh!" Cable understood it now too. "He did it.. when he tried to take over my body. He placed part of his spirit...in mine!" His eyes narrowed. "You bastard. You wanted me to win, that was why you held back! Even if you lost the shadowgame, you could survive within me..." Turners smile was gone now. "Feh, so you figured it out, big deal. You can not change how the shadowgame works."

"That just changes the mood a little, now we will have to see which one of us can kill themselves first." The villain chuckled. "It will not work if you forfeit either, it only worked with Colin because he did it at the start of the match, before the shadows grew strong enough to trap both players in a fight to the death." Cable shook his head. "You thought it was easier to lose than to win, didnt you? You have been losing for six duels already anyway." He called back the Carrier, attacking with it now would end the duel in his favor. "Feh. I am the best at it. The master chose me because he knew how skilled the opponents were." He gloated. "Is that so? But my lifepoints are quite low. In fact.." He had one more monster on his field. "Protoss Arbiter(200/2700)! Attack Victory Viper!" His other flying ship headed straight for the Jet fighter. "_His attack is lower than my card by a thousand! If this hits, he will lose all his lifepoints_!" Turner realized he had to save Cable here, to save his own soul. "Trap Card: Interdimensional Matter Transporter!"

A teleporter-machine appeared, which sucked XX03 into another dimension, leaving the Arbiter with nothing to hit. "Try again." Grunting, Cable placed a card and ended his turn. I wonder, if losing is easier than winning, why would you fight back at all?" During the endphase the Matter Transporter placed Viper(1200/1000) back on the field. "Also, you forget that Arbiter can still activate its effects in the endphase. I choose its first effect this time!" The ship sent another EMP pulse, to shut down Victory Vipers weapons. "Your machine can not attack during the next turn!" He smiled. "Oh really? Then I will just have to.." Turner drew a card and summoned it. "Tribute it for a boss." He sacrificed XX03 to tribute summon B.E.S. Big Core MKII (2400/1100), a large winged starship. "Armored Core series?" This was the extension of the Konami-inspired Gradius set. "Ha. This card can not be destroyed in battle, and I attack the Carrier!." The Core ship fired several lasers at the Protoss vessel, all of which bounced off its shields.

Turners LP: 900

"MK II has a downside however, just like any Core card made for this card game." Suddenly MK II lost power and broke down. "It needs counters to survive the battle steps, counters which it only gets when special summoned. I normal summoned this one, so.." He lost his monster, yet he liked it that way. "Oh no. Now Cable can't ram his Arbiter into anything." Christine sighed. "Indeed, and he can not use the EMP-waves either. If Turner draws a weaker monster next turn, it will be all over." Carter frowned. "And to answer your question, future host. I had to stall for time, the game could have gone either way after all. I could only send bits and pieces of my own spirit into your body at a time. When you summoned that Carrier of yours, I had sent enough to make sure I would survive inside you, but left some behind to carry out the rest of the duel for me." He finished his turn. "Then there is no going back for the you that stayed behind. You can not win by winning.." Jackson claimed. That was the little hope they had left. "Indeed."

Cable entered his turn, and figured his best option lied in defending. "I switch the Carrier to defense mode, and I set another card in the magic/trap zone." This was good, because his Protoss machine had only 1700 defense points. He'd need to summon something really weak to kill himself now. "Feh, you under-estimate me, as does everyone." Now it was his main phase. "I gained just what I needed, I summon this card." A two-legged machine walker was now on the field (500/500). "What the." It was not very strong. "Mobile Cannon Ducker, its a flip effect monster. However I will forego the effect and just hit your defending carrier. Here is to the loss!" Ducker charged the Protoss machine. "Trap card: Stasis Field!" However Cable flipped his trap, and the Mobile was caught in a field of electricity. "This trap will remove your monster from play for 4 turns!" Ducker disappeared from the field. "Bah. You humans are always so damn persistent. End Turn." He again had nothing on his field, nothing Fraser could use..

_Stasis Field. Normal Trap  
__You can only activate this card if have a 'Protoss Arbiter' on your side of the field. Destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field, and remove then from play.  
Four turns after the activation of this card, immediately special summon all destroyed monsters on your opponent's side of the field in face-up attack mode._

"Draw." He guessed he would not get another chance like this, so he needed to end it this turn. "One way or the other." He saw the card in his hand and gasped. "This..might work." He said enthusiasticallu and summoned a new Protoss. "High Templar." The long robed energy user of the Protoss race (1000/1000). "It has an effect, by paying lifepoints it can reduce a monsters attack and defense by the same amount." He looked at his own Carrier. "I will reduce the attack of this machine by 200." Everyone's eyes widened. "He is going to pay all he has left!" That was a sure-fire way to lose the game.

_Protoss High Templar 4/1000/1000 Light/Beast-Warrior  
__Once during your main phase 1, you can pay any multiple of 100 Life Points.  
__Reduce the attack and defense power of a monster on the field by an amount equal to the lifepoints payed._

"Wait!" Turner placed his hand out in front of him. "What do you want?" Cable had his own hands ready at his card, about to pay all the points. "Can you do this, Cable? Can you condemn your own spirit as well?" He said, nervously but also confidently. "What are you saying?" Christine yelled. "I am saying that if he loses, the shadowgame will take the losers soul with it. We will both die if his LP runs out." Fraser was not pleased to hear this, but he did not reply. "Heh. You wont do it. If you let me lose, nobody will have to die." The possessed man eased up a litttle, but his expression soon changed again. "No." When the opponent refused his words. "I am calling your bluff, crawler. If you had given this warning from the start, I might have believed you. But this reeks of desperation." He tapped the High Templar card. "Activate effect." The Protoss took the last of his masters lifeforce, and weakened the Carrier a little (3000/1500). "NO!" The duel field seemed to tremble as the fight reached its conclusion, and Turner started screaming.

Cable's LP: 0

"You.. accursed.. human!" Unexpectedly, a wave of black wind spread across the area, knocking everyone down. "Hrggk!" At the same time, Fraser felt a sharp pain in his chest, and the Millenium Key started to glow like mad. "No! It is...happening after all!" Jacksons worst fear came to realization, as his friend collapsed to the floor. "Fool." The body Turner possessed, Colins, fell a few seconds afterwards. "Is he..." Neither player was moving. "Wait, look at that." William then saw the dark energy, it converged around Cable. "It is..taking a shape?" The blackness became one whole, and it resembled a person. This entity had the form of a human, but lacked several attributes. The eyes were blank, the skin was semi-transparent, the hands looked like claws, and it lacked all sorts of colors. "It is him, the Crawlers true self.."

Then the creature turned its pupil-lacking glare on the three other duelists. "You." It spoke at last, the voice sounding faint as it came from a distance. "You toy with fate so easily." The Crawler sounded oddly upset. "Yet by gambling your soul, you found out the flaw." At that point, the bodies of Colin, the worker and Cable started to show signs of life. "Oh!" Though only the latter opened his eyes. "Fraser!" Doe ran towards him. "I am.. fine." He managed to say, in between coughing. "He could not, contain us all anymore.." They looked back at the shadow, who said nothing. "That was it, wasn't it? Your shadowgame can not be completed if you lose your own spirit. Only human souls are compatible with this portal you are trying to create." It seemed that merely introducing such dark energy, disrupted the collection of six souls he had already made. "So Colin and this guy are okay now?" Rose asked, both the Crawler and Cable. "I think so." However while one nodded, the other raised his clawed hand. "Yes, and no." And lashed out..

"Gah!" A dark flash nearly blinded everyone present. When they could see again, there appeared to be a small black spot hanging in mid-air. "This is all, I could do.." At that point the shadow started fading, its legs could not be seen anymore. "What did you do?" Will cursed. "I lost control, and now due to my own rules I am dying. The souls which I gathered were lost at that point, however.." The black spot crackled with energy. "For one instant, I had Fraser in my hands. For one instant I had all seven souls I needed. So by exchanging my life for time, I have created a portal that will last an instant." Of course this one was rather small, everyone was thinking that. "They will come. To finish my task. The master has many servants, all of which will want to release the Ka into this dimension." By now only his head was left. "You humans, I had fun with you. But you are to shortsighted to see the beyond. The darkness will come, and none of you can sto..p....i...t.....n......." Finally, Turner the shadow parasite, was no more.

A long silenced followed. "Was he.. " Everyone stared at what he left behind. "Telling us that he did it...after all?" Like a hole in the world, Turners scar on this existence. "It is so tiny. There is no way anyone can fit through that, can they?" William waved his hand in front of it, he dared not touch it. "I am affraid he would not have made it, had he expected size to be a handicap." Doe said. "The gate must not be active right now, this thing is just a place-holder. When the time comes, for a second or less, the door to their world will open." And then they could expect more servants of this Magus Ka. "We should destroy it! We can do that right?" Christine was getting jittery. "We have no idea what we are dealing with." Fraser stood up again. "This kind of event, it is unprecedented. We can not afford to make any rash judgments when we know so little. Just touching it might blow the whole thing up for all we know. Or worse, it could release whatever is on the other side." Carter wisely stepped back, just to be sure. "Then what?"

"We can not leave it alone either, can we?" William looked around, at the city behind him and the factory next to him. "People will see this eventually, they wont be able to explain it, they will panic." The others agreed with that. "I know. We need to set up a quarantine. We can use the virus as a cover-up again" Cable walked back to his helicopter. "I can call my people, but even I do not have the resources to keep this whole mess under wraps. I need more information, and I can not get it." Jackson closed his eyes and sighed, knowing what was going to be said next. "But you know someone who does?" The girl asked. He nodded. "Yeah. Once Colin and this man here have recovered, we will go to meet him." He took his phone and made the call. "Wait, who is this man? Why are you so worried." She could see the concerned looks on both their faces. "Because you will not like meeting him again. It is a trial we will have to endure." The ringing stopped, he had a connection. "Yes, who is this?" A commanding voice asked over the comlink.

Fraser took a deep breath and responded. "It's me, Fraser. We need your help, Marcus."

(To be Continued in New Testament 011: The Price is Wrong)

**New Cards used by Cable Fraser  
**_Protoss Carrier  
__Protoss High Templar_

_-  
__Stasis Field_

**New Cards used by Turner 'Seventh Revolution'  
**B.E.S. Big Core MKII  
Mobile Cannon Ducker

-  
fInterdimensional Matter Transporter


	11. The Price is Wrong

New Testament 011: The Price is Wrong

"Ugh my poor head." Spoke a waking Colin, as he felt the after-effects of spiritual possession. "He is coming around!" Christine yelled excitedly, her happiness soon spreading over the others. "Where am I?" He asked noone in particular. "What is that noise?" He heard a loud repetetive thumping sound, the source of it was right over his head. "What the? We're in.." He was in the helicopter of Cable, along with his friends. "When did we get this thing?" He looked down, too confused to ask about 'Turner'. "Hmm. You don't seem to have any memories of what happened during the take-over." Jackson said. "That is good. That means the other hosts wont suddenly freak out once they recover." Cable was seated up front. "Though none have waken up so far, not even the workman we left behind. It appears the longer you stay possessed, the longer it takes for the mind to recover. I ordered all of Turners victims to be taken the same hospital, to keep better track of their recovery." He sighed, putting down the phone he just used.

"You mean that spirit bastard? Where did he go? I need some explanations here!" After some quick-paced expositing, Colin was up to speed to the whole ordeal. "I am the first of the six to come back eh. Glad to be back then, since I only remember darkness wherever Turner sent me." He shook his head. "But you're telling me he still made that portal for the Magic Ka dealy?" He referred to the tiny black dot in space-time. "It is not active right now. That much we know. I called some of my people to set up a quarantine zone. Citizens wont come near it, for now." Fraser explained. "_Your_ people?" He was curious as to who those helpful strangers could be. "I have some contacts with the government and the army of this land, especially the division that dealt with the Orichalcos threat last year. They might not understand what is going on, but they will keep things secret. Their base surrounds ground zero now. No need to worry." At this point, Carter piped in. "Yeah. The problem is, we need to go to someone else for understanding.

"Someone who has enough information to help us prepare. Marcus Simmons of Tum'aga."

The next 30 seconds consisted of Colins voice breaking the sound-barrier. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Why the hell do we need his help?" He calmed down as much as he needed to properly convey his anger. "It is bad enough that he avoids a massive lawsuit and tenure with all that money of his. Now he has become our ally, just like that?" He refused to accept it, but Cable tried to clarify anyway. "It is not that simple Sairve. Simmons did not just pay his way out, he had outside help from what I can tell. An outside firm bought out every part of Tum'aga that the army did not confiscate, him included. And because all the leftovers from that company are now in his hands, nobody could know more about the threat then him. Our research pales in comparison to the decades that the Creeds spent on studying the Ancient Atlantian and Egyptian legends." He had already told this to William and Christine, they had been equally frustrated at first. "Great. So I suppose we're flying towards him now." The others nodded. "I wanna sleep again.."

Another minute of silence preceeded the next question. "Where _are _we going?" They had no clue where Marcus was hanging out these days. "Not the old tower 0013 I hope." Sairve added with a sneer. "No. Right now he is busy with his latest gimmick." The helicopter finally stopped in front of a large building. "What the?" Upon closer inspection, the place turned out to be a large film studio. "This is his new hideout?" Rose did not see the use of it, unless.. "No, it is his new job. You will understand once you come inside. Marcus only allowed us to enter because even he can tell when the situation is urgent. Still though, try to be quiet and do not draw attention to yourselves." They proceeded inwards through one of the backdoor entrances. And while they were in a dark hallway at first, soon the lights reached their eyes, and the noises reached their ears. "Oh dear god, it is worse than I imagined." There was an audience, there were stage lights, the cameras were rolling. They were looking at Simmons' own duelist-related TV-show.

"I can not believe this." They were back-stage watching the ordeal from afar. "People pay to watch this? No no no, let me restate that. People pay to watch this live?" Sairve started to think he was still in a dreamworld. Except this one was not blackish. "Its a game-show." Jackson was already familiar with the concept. "Marcus started this to promote the cards he created recently, he got the funding from that new company and Outerdeck. It is basically a contest between duelists." He pointed at the stands in front of them. "All the people here are card game players. Randomly ten get selected from their seat to come to the stage and duel amongst each other." He also pointed at a circle of people below, next to the dueling field; Marcus was one of the three. "Those are the shows judges. They hand out scores to the players based on their performances. The winner is she/he with the highest point average. The prices are usually cards and a sum of money." William cringed as his mind came up with the perfect summary. "Its Duel Master...Idols.."

"Well we're not here to watch this." Cable walked onwards. "We aren't?" Christine expressed regrets, as she actually liked the idea a little. "This is a matter of urgency." He said to himself, and soon also to some bodyguards that blocked the way. "No one is to disturb the judges." They growled lazily. "Gah. But we have an arrangement, Simmons is to see us now!" Fraser protested. "It can not be helped. Marcus is the head judge, he needs to score all the rounds. You will have to wait until thye final duel ends." They could not be reasoned with, sadly. Despite the fact that Marcus was expecting company, he was not at all concerned with getting in touch right now. "Damn it." They could tell from the quick glare the head judge gave to the five duelists, which he quickly shrugged off. "Guess we will just to watch the damn show." They were escorted to some available seats. "It cant be that bad. We might see some new strategies." Only Rose was happy with this. "Meh. At least this wont last too long. The final game is about to start.."

Two contestants walked up to the platform at the center of the hall. It was an elevated ring that had several holographic emitters surrounding it. Since not many people here could afford a dueldisk of their own, they had to play in this dueling field, which created the monster visuals for them. "And here we have them again ladies and gentlemen, the last two contestants will duke it out here and no!" To the surprise of the five visitors, this place even had its own anouncer. "In the right corner we have Jim Bryce , the infamous lockdown specialist." The first one to step up was him, a young man with gelled hair and a bomber jacket. "And to the right we have the first Plant user to make it to the final round, Madlyn Halliday." Opposote of him was a young girl with long hair and a flower in her hair. "I did not expect you of all people to meet me in the finals." Jim smiled, the girl did not comment. "There were others I would have liked to see here, but I suppose it does not make a difference." The field activated itself. "When I win, that is.."

Jims LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 8000

It was deciced by a coin toss that Jim would go first. "Meh." He would much rather go second, yet he could wait. "I set a monster card and a trap card facedown." He looked at the opponent. "Your move, ms. Halliday." She nodded, but did not speak up when her cards were placed on the field. In fact she just repeated Bryce's moves, placing a monster down and a card in the M/T zone. "Neither has gone on the offense so far! But I have a feeling we will see some action soon!" Was the next loud anouncement, as Jim entered his turn again. "Shy one, aren't ya? Dont like the sight of all these cameras around you?" He drew a card. "I will not blame you. And I will finish this quickly." He flipped his trap, Royal Decree. "First to seal your traps, this card will prevent us both from trapping each other." This was stage one of his lockdown. "Now. I normal summon Horus, LV4 Black Flame Dragon!" And here came step two. The hologram of a silver armored dragon(1600/1000) flew to the field. "Oh! There it is, Jims number one card!"

"Next I flip my facedown monster, Lord of Dragons(1200/1100)." The dragonhelmeted spellcaster would keep Horus safe from any other effects Madlyn could throw at him. "Double attack!" He entered the battle phase, and Horus burned the facedown monster to a crisp. "You destroyed, Wall of Ivy." She spoke at last, revealing her slain plant monster, a hedge of ivy vines (300/1200). With it gone, the Lord could attack directly. "Spell card?" However he suddenly faced a quickplay spell, which she flipped face-up. Royal Decree could not negate that. "It is Seed of Deception, that allows her to special summon any lv2 or lower plant-type from her hand to the field!" Madlyn took a card from her hand and summoned it. It was the dancing plant, Horseytail(400/500) in defense mode. "Another daisy ripe for the plucking."

He sent the Dragon Lord to finish that one instead, the small plant was crushed by unseen forces. "There is a trick to this, isn't there?" And he was right in that assumption, for suddenly he had a lot more monsters in his army. "These are." Two tokens were rooted in between his own monsters. An Ivy-Token (0/0) and a Horseytail-token (0/0). "I see, both of your monsters leave behind weak tokens when they die, quite the weeds." Plus it was explained over the speakers that dying Ivy-tokens also took down 300 LP through effect damage, like an Ojama token. "Hrm. I end my turn now." In his endphase, the LV4 dragon leveled up into LV6(2300/1600), spreading its steel wings. "Level 6 is immune to spells, and when it reaches level 8, all your spells will be negated." He passed the turn to her again. "O-kay."

"Mark of the Rose." An equip spell was played. "Oh my. That spell allows her to remove a plant in the graveyard and take control of an opponents." The girl removed Horseytail from play. "But she can not influence Horus with spells!" Jim protested. "Yes." So she chose the one that could be controlled, a rose-shaped scar was carved on the helmet of Lord of Dragons. "Oh!" The Lord walked over to her side and bowed down. "Sacrifice summon." And she immediately tributed it for a lv-6 monster. "Now I get it. You just wanted to tribute summon something stronger than..wait." Yet the monster she summoned, another plant, was weaker than Horus LV-6. "Rose Tentacles(2200/1200)" It had a rose on its head and vines for limbs. "What is your plan here, Ms. Halliday?" He did not like this setup one bit.

"Watch closely. It will be over before you know it." She played another equip spell, it would be the last one for the duel. "Thorns of Malice." It was placed on the Rose monster, all of its vines gained sharp spikes, and it powered up (2800/1200). "The spell gives her plant 600 extra attackpoints?" He was worried as he had no trap to keep Horus alive. Even if he had, Royal Decree would block it. "And Piercing Damage." She added quickly, before three of the Plants tentacles shot up. "Wait what?" All three headed straight for the Ivy-token, hitting it three times and inflicting 2800 battle damage each time. Until all LP was lost. "Wait, wait..wait." Bryce was left stunned.

Jims LP: 0

"Astounding. A one-turn victory, and without a single lost lifepoint! Madlyn receives a top score for that!" The anouncer screamed with passion as the judges gave her a top score for this performance. Especially Marcus seemed pleased. "Oh, it seems she went a little too fast for everyone. Allow us to explain: Rose Tentacles has an effect, it can make extra attacks for as many plants there are on the opponents field at the start of the battle phase." Since there were two, Rose Tentacles could attack up to three times. That was why she left the tokens on his field with Ivy Wall and Horseytail. "Additionally, Thorns of Malice not only strengthens the plant its equiped upon, but it keeps its victims alive as well. When the Rose Tentacles used its attacks on the token, the equip spell prevented it from dying, allowing her to hit it for a lot of damage each strike." The crowd finally understood, and they were equally impressed. The cheering started, and Madlyn walked over to accept her awards, while Jim walked away dejected.

"Well that was numbing." William sighed. "Did we not need to save a world here?" Jackson growled. "I know. Simmons is toying with us. But he should be available now." Cable got up from his seat, and the others followed him to the backstage area. This time the bodyguard let them through, and they finally met Marcus in the company of the other judges. "Ah, my friends. I did not expect to see you this soon." He smirked plainly. "Save the chit-chat for later." Cable said, as Jackson quickly held an annoyed-to-the-limit Colin back at the same time. "Marcus. I told you we have a serious problem here. Did you not get the army notice?" The man looked nonplussed, but shushed him with a gesture. "Not here, Fraser. Not here. Follow me to somewhere more private." He turned his back on them and walked up some stairs. "I understand the situation, but I did not want to cause a panic on live television you see. Besides, this show has its uses for the coming crisis, as you might soon see." He held back a nasty grin. "So tell me..... everything."

(To be Continued in Testament 012: On the Same Page)

**Cards used by Jim Bryce  
**Lord of D. (Lord of Dragons)  
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4  
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6

-  
Royal Decree

**Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Wall of Ivy  
Horseytail  
Rose Tentacles

-  
Seed of Deception  
Mark of the Rose  
Thorns of Malice


	12. On the Same Page

**New Testament 012: On the Same Page**

The gang and Marcus were walking down the stairs now. "How deep can a place go?" Apparently Simmons was not happy with holding a conversation at the film studio, so he took everyone to the a dark section and just walked into a corridor expecting everyone to follow him. "A secure placer requires a secure altitude. Or in this case a secure depth." He non-answered. And then he suddenly stopped "Before I take you any further." His head twisted to the side, and his eyes glanced down at their dueldisks. "Did you take them with you?" He also looked at Cable himself. "You mean these?" William was the only one that bothered to take out his deck, and show 'it' to him. "Yes, we all have them still." He showed Timaeus to the 'producer', the third of the three special dragon cards. "And I still have the Millenium Item with me Simmons." Fraser grumbled. "But why do you need to know this, are you considering what I think you are?" Marcus apparently did not like where this discussion was headed as he did not reply and continued his descent.

Finally they could go no deeper and stopped in front of a large metallic door. "Now then. Here is where you will find the reason for my required services." He slid his keycard through the card reader and the doors opened, revealing a brighter room behind it. Inside was a place that looked awfully familiar, hauntingly so. "This place is." There were computers, monitors, machines with unknown functions and glass chambers for unknown purposes. "Welcome to what was left of Tum'aga." He proudly anounced. "I scrapped this entire place together from bits and pieces I have been able to salvage over the months. Important pieces from Tower 0013 and Templesoft." The others were shocked. "I can not believe it. They would let you have all of this?" Christine did not know what to say, they were supposed to have prevented all of this. "My benefactor let it all happen. Sadly not even I know her or his true identity. Anyway, as you said yourself, time is a wasting." He walked over to the biggest screen. "Let us deal with the problem at hand."

As they had already explained to him, the army was now sealing off a section of a nearby city, one that contained a miniature tear in time and space. "Yes, I can see it now." The monitors brought up the overhead satellite view of the city, it seemed a batallion had already surrounded the space with tents and humvees. "Its not on the news yet, but damage control wont last long." He added with a smark. "But there is nothing we can do from here about it. I will need to see it myself. I assume you came here for other reasons." He again glared at Fraser, the one who carried the Millenium Key. "Yes. The seven items." Jackson went right to the point as well. "Hey? Are we sure we can tell him?" Colin flinched. "We have to. Because we need to find them all. For the coming threat can not be battled with just..."

"Ah!"

Suddenly a voice shrieked through the hall. "YOU!" They turned around to see a woman standing behind, pointing vehemently at one of them in return. "I recognize that face anywhere, you bastard!" Sairve was the accused, and he took some time to register the memory belonging to this angry face. "Oh I remember... Lydia Blackstone?" He remembered her as the girl he dueled back at the tournament, and the girl he abandoned to a fate of soul theft. "This remark seemed to tick her off even more. "Why did you invite him Marcus? He is trash!" Colin pointed back at her as well. "I can ask the same thing, why is she in a supposedly secret area?" Lydia twitched. "You're not special here Sairve! I am.." At this point Will intervened. "This can wait you two.. we need to solve our major crisis first." He looked at Marcus. "You want to know about the seven items, what they look like, what their powers are." The man nodded. "All data can be put into this Tumagian database, and we may be able to find one." Will sighed. "Fine.."

They told him everything, how they had the Key and either Nero of Cleo had the Puzzle. How Glyph had last been seen with the Rod and disappeared ever since. And the four other items were not found yet: The Eye, Scales, Tauk and Ring. "I see. The scales are for weighing evil, the ring is for sensing other items, the eye can see into the mind and the tauk can predict the future." He started to add reference after reference to the computer. "The searcher I use is many times more efficient than google. It will single out any relevant hit and crossreference it with certain forbidden folders. The last part may take a while. Coincidentally, any item could be of help. So I have also started a search for our friends Caine and Jacobus." He showed the images of Cleo and Nero. "Allthough it is not hard to find her." He pointed at the first, the goth duelist. "Where is she?" Rose wondered why he could tell without looking. "At the nationals, which are being held in America right now. Our little gamer still has not had her fill of dueling."

Indeed, the sixth of the seven heroes was there at the Outerdeck-hosted contest. It was a fairly high-budget event, inside a theme park with holographic dueling rings and more than 100 contestants. In fact there were so many of them that the first few rounds consisted of seeding prelims, where the LP was cut by half to speed things up. Only the top two of each bracket would pass to the main arena. And Cleo Caine stood out the most in her slot, wearing yet another elaborate goth outfit. "You are my opponent huh." And her first enemy was a male duelist, who unexpectedly looked a lot like her. "Nice getup." She said sarcastically, looking at his long black coat, and his blond hair. He was probably not trying to be 'goth' though. "Same for you. The name is Ceasar. I heard you were called Cleo, that makes this match-up a little symbolic, don't you agree?" He extended his hand, but she refused it. "I don't wanna get chummy before the duel. For all I know I wont ever see you again." Disappointed he pulled it back. "So you are that type."

"Anyway as I said, this process takes up time. So feel free to continue your rant of anger, Lydia." Marcus chuckled. "Is she working here, Simmons?" Fraser asked quickly before either could start shouting. "Yes she is, thanks for asking." She looked rather proud of it too. "Doesn't that strike you as, Idunno... insane? I mean he was the same man who tried to take your soul at the arena!" Colin fumed. "Oh trust me, I was pretty mad at him. Until he had that government-forced change of heart which payed me off nicely at the same time." To her money healed all wounds. "I told you that my show has a certain purpose, didn't I?" Marcus interjected. "Damn right it did." Lydia took out a card from her deck, a signed card with a golden border. "This is my proof, I won in the show, so I became an 'apprentice' of his."

Colin did not know what to make of this, was she really that easily swayed by this guy? "Wait, are you saying that this is what happens to someone who wins here? That sounds kind off awesome." He hated to admit that last part. "Not every duelist though, is it Simmons? You just want to find potential, don't you?" Jackson frowned. "You got me there, symbolist. Many have won my show, but few are skilled enough to make it here." Blackstone crossed her arms to emphasise her 'skills'. "We need good duelists, dont you agree? And I am making them even stronger.." He turned back to the screen again, it still showed Cleo's photo. "In fact, one of them has joined the same tournament as she did. He just could not wait to test out the new cards I created for him. The synchro monsters that is."

Cleo's LP: 4000 Ceasars LP: 4000

Ceasar instead took out his dueldisk, a strange black customized model. "Lets play then." The girl followed suit and took out hers. "What's the Ante? Each player has to give the winner their rarest card in this tournament." Ceaser asked as he showed a card to her. "Mine is this." He revealed a strange card to her. "I know that, and what the heck is that?" She was confused, yet she revealed hers as well, the Fiendish Engine Omega, a machine monster. "I see. And you will see soon enough as well. Let's begin." The duel was underway, each player drew their cards. "I can not wait." The first turn came to him "I will now admit something, Cleo." He drew. "Your fame and dueling style precede you, making it easy to.." He summoned a warrior monster, Getsu Fuhma(1700/1200). ".. render it useless." He had summoned the female demon slayer, her effect would kill any zombie or fiend regardless of their effects. "I also set a trap card facedown. Your move, duelist of the undead demons."

Cleo drew her card, she did not want to let the game drag on. "I activate the spell Call of the Mummy. With its effect I special summon a zombie from my hand, when no monsters are on my field." She special summoned a double-headed black ghost. "Double Coston(1700/1650). This card can be tributed for a DARK monster, and it will count twice. And I did not normal summon yet." She sacrificed the Coston for.. "Fiendish Engine Omega!" The metal demon replaced the phantoms(2800/2000). "Destroy Getsu!" The Engine's claws swiped through the moon warrior, cutting her hologram to pieces. "Impressive, you summoned the one monster in your deck that can avoid Fuhma's demon destruction ability: your ante." Ceasar smiled. "In one turn too. Yet you used up half your hand to do so.." She had three cards left. "Yeah so, I still damaged you." During the endphase, Omega produced an engine-token in attack mode(200/200) "Now it's your turn again." He nodded. "Yes you did. But now I will face your ante with mine."

"Synchro, wha.?" The others had heard of this before. "What are they, people say they are big news, but..." Both Marcus and his apprentice shook their heads. "Lydia, if you please." She nodded and took another card from her deck. "This, is a Synchro." She showed a monster with a white border, instead of a yellow/orange one. "So it looks different, but how.." The girl then placed the card down along with two normal monster cards. "It is simple. Synchros come from the fusion deck, which is now called the extra deck. They are synchro summoned, just like fusion monsters are fusion summoned. Only you do not need a spell to call them out. It is more like contact fusion, something your friend Nero does a lot." She tapped the two regular monsters again. "All you need is two monsters whose level equal that of the Synchro. You send those two to the cemetery and Boom! There is your Synchro monster." She pounded the table to emphasise the boom-part. "That is all?" She flicked her finger. "Not quite. One of the two monsters has to be a Tuner."

Cleo's LP: 4000 Ceasars LP: 2900

"Marauding Captain." Ceasar normal summoned the lv3 warrior(1200/400), whose special effect allowed him to special summon another level 4 or lower-monster from his hand. "Behold my Tuner monster: TunerWarrior." Next to the armored Captain came a red armored warrior-droid (1600/200). "Tuner? What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, more annoyed than curious. "A Tuner is the main component in a Synchro Summon equation, the catalyst." Before she could ask what 'that' was, he initiated it. "Look." The Tuners antenna released electricity which zapped the Marauder. The two warriors faded, turning into six glowing stars. "Synchro summon: I combine the three levels of Marauding Captain with the three levels of Tune Warrior, to summon a level six from my extra deck!" The six stars of the holograms flew into the air to form a bright light. And from that light came a new card, a warrior that looked like a Kabuki actor(2800/2000). "Where...what, who?" She was bewildered. "My Synchro: Goyo Guardian."

"Its special effect is this: I can revive the monsters it defeats and control them as my own." He was about to attack. "But my monster is just as strong as yours!" She protested. "I know, that is why I have this." He equipped Goyo with a spell. "Fighting Spirit, my monster gains 300 attackpoints for each monster on your field." There were two, the token and its creator. Goyo gained attackpoints(3400/2000). "Damnit." She knew who he was going to attack. "Battle Phase, attack Omega!" The Guardian used its whip-like weapon to grab Omega, crushing it in half, doing 600 battle damage. "Now." The pieces were then re-assembled on his field, and Omega was resummoned in defense mode(2800/2000). "Ha, its in defense mode, so it cant attack." She said smugly. "I prepared for that as well, Cleo." He flipped a continuous trap. "Final Attack Orders. All face-up monsters on the field switch to attack-position." The Demon Engine took an offensive stance, aiming its claws at the token it made from its own parts. "I believe it ends now."

Cleo's LP: 3400

"I know how your monster works, I should because it will be mine from here on in." He seemed to enjoy this definitive victory. "I can boost its attack by a thousand during its strikes." Omega powered up(3800/2000) "It will selfdestruct afterwards, but you wont survive to see it happen. I attack the token now." He stalled no longer and scrapped the Engine-token, inflicting 3600 damage to Caine. Her LP was reduced to nothing, she had lost the first prelim match. "You...." And she was not at all happy about that. "I am pretty sure a bit of irony can be called here. Getting beaten by your own ante." The card was in his dueldisk now, no need to give it back to her. "And now you know, the power of Synchro. You might see more, if you can even manage to win the next two duels. Til then." He waved at her and simply walked off. "_That... bastard_."

Cleo's LP: 0

"Oh! We have a hit!" Marcus suddenly said as he turned around. The screen revealed a possible location for one of the Millenium Items. "Which is it?" Rose asked. "It is..."

(To be Continued in Testament 013: Not Yours to See)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Double Coston

-  
Call of the Mummy

**Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**Getsu Fuhma  
Marauding Captain  
Tune Warrior  
Goyo Guardian

-  
Fighting Spirit

-  
Final Attack Orders


	13. Not Yours to See

**New Testament 013: Not Yours to See**

"The Tauk?" The first of the missing Millenium Items had been located, on the computer at least. The searcher found a detailed hit with information over this magic object. "I believe the technical term is a torque." Carter said, nodding his head. "Looks more like a necklace to me." Lydia was not even sure if 'Torque' was a word.. "Who cares. We don't have time for discussions like this." Colin snapped suddenly. "We need to know the where and the how, not the what and why." He turned to Marcus. "How reliable is this computer of yours? How can we be sure that this 'find' which so conveniently popped up is not just a wild-goose chase." Simmons smiled in response to this indirect accusation. "You can trust me, Sairve. You all can. I did not set this up, this is a true discovery which I could only make today, because you kept all kinds of information away from me before. I will spare you the technicalities, let me just say that this item was the most likely to be found first. It has a unique ability." He explained the how, now they all waited for the where.

"Italy huh.." The screen pinpointed the city of Verona in the southern European country. "It seems a famous fortune teller shows up there every annual market, whose predictions always come true. His stage-name appears to be 'The Infallible Prospero'." Loosely translated of course. "I see what it is getting at. If someone had the Millenium Tauk, and could get it to work as well, then it would certainly make for a flawless seer." Cable seemed hopeful, the others less so. "It still says nothing, why this guy and not someone else? Colin is a seer as well, isn't he? And look at his predictions.." Colin did not like Lydia's remarks, but had to let it go, since Marcus spoke up next. "I know my dear. But this is the best hit here when you look at the cross-references: there are 78 living fortune tellers whose family lines dates back to Egypt, few of those have given 100 % accurate readings at all time. And only he... plays this very same card game." Everyone flinched, he kept the best secret for last. "That can not be a coincidence I'd say."

"But we are not sure. We should go see this man." Jackson looked at the pictures and data again. "Verona is not exactly around the corner." He sighed. "Indeed, even if I were to give you one of my private jets. It would take half a day for you to get there. It will be very late by the time you arrive." Christine shook her head. "We have to go today, don't we? That small portal could open any time now." They needed as many items as they could find before time ran out. "Then we will have to split up." William looked at another screen, which still recorded Cleo's progress in the tournament. "Cleo and Nero need to know about all of this. And one of them has the puzzle as well. Yet they both live in America, getting there will also take a while." He wondered how many jets Marcus could afford to lose. "I am sure we can arrange something, book a few pilots to get you where you need to be. If not from my company, I am sure Fraser could fix you up." The ex-Kartel member took out his phone and was about to make a call. "Wait, who goes where?"

"Well. This Prospero is a seer like me, and I need to see that up close." Colin smirked. He glared at Jackson as well. "I am also thinking he should see just how 'urgent' the situation is, and how unusual we are." He winked at the man whose body housed one and a half dozen souls. "I see. We may need persuasion to get this man to give up something that formed the basis of his lifestyle until now." Christine meanwhile stepped up behind Carter. "I guess we can go find Cleo then. If Nero has not been found by that time, she should know where he is." Will was happy to hear that. "Agreed. By the time we arrive, the tournament will probably be over." They had an ocean to cross first after all. "And I will." Cable was about to make his choice, when a hand pressed on his shoulder. "I think you will be coming with me, Fraser." Marcus 'politely' requested. "You see: I want to behold this threat with my own eyes. And since you summoned those army boys over there, you have to be present as well. Consider that my reward for my services."

Once they split up had been settled, everyone boarded the helicopter once more, and they flew to the private airport of Simmons' benefactor. There he managed to secure two jets, one for America and one for Italy. The helicopter would continue on its path towards the quarantine zone, with only Marcus and Cable on it. Four people were on the plane which headed south; the two duelists, the pilot and... "Why are you here anyway? Why couldn't we get a stewardess?" .. Lydia. "You don't even look like one, cant pretend." Colin was annoyed, Jackson had no comment. "You are only upset because you know I hate your guts. Well get used to me. Marcus does not trust you completely so he sent me to oversee this journey." Sairve tried to object, but she beat him to the punch. "And before you say what I know you want to say. He did not send me with Christine or William because everyone knows how moral harmless those two are." He closed his mouth again. "Good boy." This flight could not be short enough he thought.

A landing and a busride later, the threesome were at the center of the city. Though by now it was early in the morning, it had taken all night to get to this exact spot. The market had not been put up yet for the day. "No time for sightseeing anyway." Jackson remarked coldly and started searching for signs of life and information. "Yeah well we can not stay too long, the pilot is expecting us back by the end of the day." They had not yet heard from the others, as far as they knew they kept the rest waiting. "I suppose someone here would know about the famous fortune teller guy." They eventually came upon an open restaurant, and asked the owner about the market seer known as Prospero, showing a printed picture of him just in case. Even he knew about that man, and he was quick to point out his current whereabouts. He slept in a hotel close to the biggest tourist attraction, the house of Romeo and Juliet. He got the most clients and the most money that way. "What a show-off." So they walked to the hotel, their search ended at the lobby.

He was right there, resting a large and comfortable-looking couch. "You are .. Prospero?" He was a tanned blackhaired man, with a thin mustache, a trendy outfit and a thick scarf around his neck. "You ask needlessly, you already know." He spoke up as he pointed at the three in front of him. "Perhaps you just like to say the name? I admit it is catching." He did not bother to get up or even look at them. "Yeah well it is not your real name, is it?" Sairve fumed. "That is, obvious. It all is obvious, I can guess your names as well." He gestured at each individually. "Colin, Jackson and Lydia." They were shocked to hear the accurate reading, though Doe was hiding his feelings well with his emotionless expression. "I was right of course. I have foreseen this encounter above all others. It is of great importance to me to resolve it in the present time." Finally he stood up and took a good look at them all. "Exactly as my third eye saw." He seemed pretty smug about his supposed flawless predictions. "If you can tell this all. You know why we are here."

Prospero raised an eyebrow but ignored the sentence apparently. "You are like me." He referred to Colin, whom he was now circling like a curious vulture. "I have seen how your own divinations come along. Your interpretations are always the alternative of the truth." Lydia could not resist a slight chuckle while he explained all this. The seer noticed that, but let it go. "How can you tell? Do you literally see and hear me giving a wrong reading in the near future?" He refused to believe it, that he could see so clearly. "Believe it, my brother. That is the power of what you desire." He backed away and sat down again. "However. I am affraid I can not give it to you, even if you will beg me for it in the next minute. 'It' has seen this encounter coming for the last few months, and the outcome has always been the same. You leave, and I keep the power. It would not show me this repeatedly, if it wanted to go with you." And that was his verdict. "You may now start imploring, pleading, beseeching. I have heard it all already."

"Oh-kaaaay." Lydia did not even want to try after hearing all that. "I will start." Doe walked up to the man. "You say you have seen the future, but do you understand it? Do you know _why _we need your item? Do you see that the world is in danger?" The fortune teller yawned. "I do not need to understand. The world is just fine as far as I can see, nothing bad will happen to me if I refuse." It seemed that all male diviners thought about themselves first. "The future is not set in stone." Doe replied. "That old excuse. I believe you want to prove that to me." He nudged in the direction of his coat. "A test of fate." He turned directly towards the symbolist and at the same time he pulled out a deck of his own. "If you can beat me in a game of duel monsters. Than I will accept that my 'item' is in better hands with you people." He even had a dueldisk to put the cards in. Payed for with showmanship skills naturally. "This is such a trap. He knows who wins this game." The girl rasped. "Yes I do. But you do not, and that is what matters."

Jacksons LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000

"So it is the result that you need. If the winner of this game is who you expected it to be, then you know the power of the Tauk is limited." Jackson had activated his dueldisk already, he accepted this challenge. "Tauk? Heh, I do not know why you call 'it' that." He drew five cards. "The first turn goes to you, Jackson Doe. Time demands it." His opponent drew six, thinking that getting initiative was actually detrimental to his cause. "_Is this another mindgame? I wonder...." _Doe was concerned about the effects his item had in a game. If he knew what was going to happen, was he a slave to the vision, or would he use it to his own advantage? "I will set two cards facedown." Cards were hidden from normal eyes, yet the almighty seer should know what they were. "I also set a monster in face-down." He would play defensive for now. "It stings does it not? You can never be sure whether or not you are playing right into my hands. That calm look on your face, it is just as bad a cover as the backside of your set cards."

He drew a card, and smiled. "It is time for a revelation. I will show you how the great Prospero duels in this game." He activated a continuous spell card from his hand, a card the others had seen many times before. "Future Fusion. I will perform a fusion summon with materials from my deck!" He sent seven monsters from the deck to the grave, including one Cyber Dragon. "You want to summon Chimeratech Overdragon?" Colin recognized that combo as one Carter favored. "No. I do not make plans for two turns from now, I have made my plan in the here and now." Unexpectedly, three of the cards sent to the cemetery started glowing. "Huh?" Three little androids appeared, which sent their energy into the grave to react with the other three discarded machines. "Is that a.." And then 'they' appeared: Jinzo's, three of them(2400/1500). "The Psycho Shockers?" These monsters were infamous in dueling history, their ability sealed off all traps "Ugh." Their laser eyes would negate either trap of Jackson, if he activated it.

"'How did I do this?' That is what you want to ask me next. I will explain it to you." He showed the card in his grave again, the littler android. "Jinzo Returner. When it is sent to the cemetery, a Jinzo can be revived from the Graveyard. No timing needed." He sent three of those with Future Fusion. "But the Jinzo's were not even dead when you.." Colin wanted to object to this combo, it did not sound proper. "It works. The rulings say so, because he sent the Jinzo's into the grave at the same time." Lydia knew a bit more about it all. "It is just that not many have the luck to pull it all off." Prospero flicked his finger. "Its it not luck, it is destiny." He played another spell, Limiter Removal. "Oh goddamn." The spell doubled the attackpower of all machines, the Jinzo's became twice as strong (4800/1500). "Your traps are nullified, your one monster can not defend against a total of 14400 attackpoints. This is how you lose." The androids struck, sending energy bolts at Jacksons monster, the Syn Symbol Asura, and the symbolist himself.

Jacksons LP: 0

"Holy.. that was quick." Sairve could not believe it, Doe was usually the toughest to beat. "That is the power of 'the tauk', as you say. He took back his dueldisk, and slowly took off the scarf around his neck. "Oh, that is!" And he finally showed it to his visitors, the Millenium treasure. A golden torque-like necklace with the Eye of Wadjet as its symbol. There was no mistaking it or its abilities. "The least I could do was prove to you that you did not find the wrong foreseer." He tucked it back again. "Now you three will leave. I have seen no further encounters with you, as you can not convince me to surrender the item." He waved them off, and the trio were not sure how to respond. Jackson looked defeated, and Colin was seething. "What if we refuse?" Lydia spoke up, surprising him. "Pardon?" He turned around, his expression did not indicate he wanted to hear this. "What if we refuse to do what you say we do?" She took out her own dueldisk. "Because I feel like going at you myself. Maybe I... can trump your items power, Prospero."

(To be Continued in New Testament 014: A Feather into the Winds)

**Cards used by Prospero  
**Cyber Dragon  
Jinzo Returner  
Jinzo

-  
Future Fusion  
Limit Removal


	14. Against the Wind

**New Testament 014: Against the Wind**

Just a few miles away from the city, a camp had been set up. The roads were blocked, the perimeter gaurded by soldiers and vehicles, no citizen was allowed to enter here. A dangerous thing was brewing, its presence hidden to prevent panic and hysteria. That did not stop everyone of course, reporters came to interrogate the troops, others tried to sneak into the quarantine zone. The threat of a dangerous virus on the loose did not stop the curious much. But even the ones that came prepared with biohazard suits were not allowed, and all their questions received no comment. Of all the people that came, only one was allowed to procede. A single helicopter flew over the treshold, and landed in an opening surrounded by tents. From it came the one who called for the army to come here, Cable Fraser. With him was of course his former friend and current partner; Marcus Simmons. Of course there qas a bit of a hold-up, some of the men did not like this intrusion. After signing several forms, the pair was allowed to set foot on soil.

"Now then, where is this miracle of dark magic?" Simmons looked quite eager. "It's over there sirs. If you will follow me." One soldier lead them to the biggest tent, which had been the obvious choice in hindsight. Once inside they saw there were men in labcoats present as well, with equipment. "I have never seen anything of the sort." They appeared to be measuring the energy output of the anomaly. It itself was located at the same spot, still as miniscule and black as ever. "So that is it." Marcus's eyes lighted up as he saw the small portal, the thing through which the darkness itself should intrude into this world. "Can we take a closer look?" Right now it was surrounded by glass panels. "I would not recommend it, sir. This thing is giving off an enormous amount of radiation." A scientist had approached the two, carrying several print outs. "Whatever this is, it is in a stable state only for the present time. There is no telling how it will react to direct contact. The closest we can say is that this is an element we have not been able to classify."

He sounded a little too thrilled, Marcus picked up on that. "You want to study it, dont you?" The labcoat was surprised, and coughed. `Well of course. This is a breakthrough in physics, we could learn more from this one anomaly than a million could in a lifetime." Marcus smirked. "Though have you stopped to wonder where it came from?" Just then Cable grabbed Simmons by the arm. "Excuse us." And took him outside the tent again, letting him go afterwards. "What are you trying to do here, Simmons?" He asked as the man brushed off his coat. "Calm down, Fraser. I was just inquiring into the nature of your people. These are the people you asked to come right?" Cable sighed. "Yes, they are Simmons. And I di not like it when you talk to them. What do you think would happen if they found out you were partially to blame for what happened on that day." He whispered, referring to the day that Marcus´s former company raised a demon from the ocean which killed a lot of soldiers. "They are from the same regiment, Simmons. They know what Tum'aga did."

"Oh is that not nice. I assume they would not respond happily then." He seemingly laughed it off. "I have immunity now, if you forgot. The jury ruled in my favor, so these man will face court if they even lay a hand on me." Though he supposed there was still a point to it all, and the situation did feel less safe now. "Well you saw what you came for. If that was all, you should return to your base and continue looking for other items." He pointed to the helicopter, its pilot had been instructed to fly him back to the TV studio. "Items huh. Does your private army know about those as well?" Fraser did not answer. However it was true to say that not even these soldiers were told everything. That could give Marcus an edge, and he disliked that notion "Very well, I shall retreat for the time being. Fare thee well, old friend." He walked back, thinking he had other business to attend to anyway. Though as he got on the chopper, he received an unexpected phone call. "_Who could that be?" _He picked it up and replied. "Oh, well hello Lydia dear." After he finished the call, the helicopter took off, and Marcus was in the clear. Allthough.. neither he nor Cable had noticed that one of the many soldiers around had not let his guard down around them. One soldier glared at him intently, before during and after their presence here. And once Simmons left, he picked up his communicator and made a transmission of his own.

Back in Italy...

"You want to duel me, the great Prospero_?_" The fortune teller seemed aghast at the mere idea of it all. "Do you not realize I will defeat you just as swiftly as I did your friend_?_" Lydia merely grinned. "I have a question for you too. If you can see everything, why did you tell us that were were gonna leave after this one loss_? _Did you see yourself saying that as well, or am I going against your prediction?" She pulled out a dueldisk from her suitcase. "Bah I knew you would refuse. I was just trying to see if I could tempt fate and get you to leave early." He fumed. "You may be good at telling the future, but you suck when you try to lie about it, Prospero." She started making her deck, selecting many cards from her case. "What are you saying_?_" He and Colin asked synchronously. "I´d have thought you of all people could sniff out a conman, Colin. Because this guy is doing it right now, by contradicting himself." Her deck was done and she inserted it. "Because you did not predict this would happen, you did not think I would duel next!"

Lydia's LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000

Eventually the seer complied with her request. "It does not matter, I will finish this just as easily." He took a deep breath, shuffled his deck and started his disk. "I know who wins this." He drew five cards, signalling that she could take the first turn. "You are repeating yourself huh. Both in tactics and in words. You want to hit me hard, so you take the turn with the first battle phase." She drew as well. "I am guessing you have but one strategy. That instant kill combo which you see coming every time." Finally she placed one monster card facedown. That was all, traps were deemed worthless in the attack that was about to come. "You make it sound as if it is all so predictable. But I make the predictions here, ms. Blackstone. And you just made the mistake of challenging me, when you know I saw your defeat with my own eyes." And then he did it, again. "Continuous spell card: Future Fusion." He activated the spell to send the six androids and Cyber Dragon ino his cemetery, material for Chimeratech which he did not need anyway.

The Jinzo Returners reacted to the Jinzo's themselves and special summoned all three to the field (2400/1500). "Gah! How did he draw that card in his first turn twice?" Colin smelled a cheat. "He has a trick." Jackson grumbled. "A trick you call it. It is fate everafter. It is the inevitable outcome of all that seek my power." He entered his battle phase. "You will be denied!" The first Jinzo blew up her facedown monster with psychic energy. It was a tiny silver blue bird (100/1800), it never stood a chance. "Now Limiter Removal!" He played the quickplay spell in his battle phase to double the attackpower all of his machines (4800/1500). "Huh. I wonder why you did not just activate the spell to begin with. Unless you did not know what I set face down." The girl smirked. "Silence! This is a double direct attack on your lifepoints, you will lose now!" The remaining Psycho androids blasted the female duelist with energy, hitting her for a total of 9200 damage. "Oh no!" Except her lifepoints did not drop during this assault.

Lydia's LP: 8000

"What?" Prospero was astonished, a word he could not often be described with. "Blackwing - Mistral Silver Shield." She took the killed winged beast card from her grave and showed it to the seer. "When this monster is destroyed and sent to the grave, all battle damage I take this turn is reduced to zero." This was what saved her. "How did you..wait Black Wing?" The others did not know that cardtype at all. "I thought you used Harpies?" Colin remembered her old strategies when he beat her in the tournament last year. "Did you think I would keep my old deck, after you tarnished it? No, I upgraded when I became Simmons' apprentice. These are my Blackwings, a far superior breed of winged beasts." She placed the dark elemental bird back in the cemetery slot. "Now then. You failed to end me. I do believe Jinzo's summoned by Jinzo Returners are destroyed during the endphase, you did not even need to remove the Limit..." She waited for him to declare 'end turn'. "Grrr. I foresaw this. I came prepared."

He placed a trap facedown, and then he tributed one of the three machines. "I sacrifice Jinzo, for Jinzo Lord!" The android underwent a transformation. "Jinzo Lord? There is a higher form of it?" The machine discarded pieces of its armor, its helmet and some straps. Now it gained slightly more defense (2400/1600), and the ability to destroy traps instead of simply negating them. "Foresaw it my ass. You are becoming desperate, Prospero." His turn ended at this point., the remaining Psycho Shockers fell to pieces. "You can not fool me. You are trying to predict your way out of defeat even now."

"So allow me to show you the specialty of the Blackwings. They swarm, just like in that one Hitchcock movie." Suddenly she summoned three of her monsters. First was a clothed bird with blue feathers and grey wings (2000/900) "Behold, Sirocco the Dawn. It can be normal summoned without tributes, if my opponent controls a monster while I do not." The other two were a spear-wielding redfeathered bird(1700/800), and a smaller blue-green bird. "Bora the Spear, and Gale the Whirlwind(1300/400). Both of these can be special summoned from the hand if another Blackwing exists on the field." In one turn she had gained three winged beasts. Yet they were all weaker than the Lord. "But they do more than swarm." The Gale bird flapped its wings, and the windbursts damaged Jinzo Lord. "Oh!" Its attack and defense were halved(1200/800). "This is the power of Gale. Once per turn it can weaken a monster. Now then, I will attack.." She wasted no time and sent all three Blackwings. The Whirlwind killed The Lord

Prospero's LP: 7900

The other Birds attacked him directly. "Trap card!" Halfway, he tried to activate his card: Call of the Haunted. "I will revive Jinzo from the cemetery!" To summon a monster that could protect him. "Too slow." However she chained with a card from her hand. "I discard D.D. Crow from my hand to remove one monster in your cemetery from play." A crow flew from her hand into the ground. "I choose the Jinzo you were trying to revive." Call of the Haunted lost its target, the dead stayed dead, Sirroco and Bora struck with spears and feathers. "Gah!" He was pushed back against his own couch. "I am... I am not done yet." He cursed and got up. "Yes you are. I am the one who is not yet through." She entered main phase 2. "I play a magic card now. Surprise Attack from the Darkness." Suddenly the hotel lights grew dim. "I discard a card from my hand to activate this spell. Its effect: all dark-type monsters summoned this turn can attack again, as if it were a second battle phase." Her grin grew unpleasantly wide. "No way. That means..."

Prospero's LP: 4200

Only she was not amazed by this turn of events, in one round she gained victory for herself. "You win?" Prospero slumped to his knees. "How, how did you do it?" He did not even feel like continuing the game anymore, he could not win this. "I would like to know that as well." Jackson asked her. "In due time." She turned to the seer. "Now, will you admit that your precious item is flawed after all. And that you still have much to gain from joining us?" She looked down on him, he was confused and almost affraid. "I can not.. I must.. yes! I have to accept this, and I have to understand why she could not see it!" The duelists accepted this and his disk registered his defeat. "Hee. This is how." She took took out her hairband, and showed it to the three in the room. "Wait, you are trying to tell us.." It looked like a normal strap, yet upon further inspection it appeared to have cybernetic properties. "Earlier on I called my boss to ask if I could test this thing. He said yes, and now I can say it works like a charm."

Prospero's LP: 0

She showed it around. "This is a receiver. It picks up waves from Marcus's headquarters. These waves have surrounded me since the beginning. Once Jackson lost to you, they could tell how exactly you do your future reading, and adapt to it. This thing masked my future from your 'precious'." Prospero let out a startled scream. "That can not be true! This is pure magic!" He took the Necklace out again, stroking it. "Technology should not be able to temper with this, it can not cause her to lie to me." She nodded. "Yes. That is reality, and yet it is not. This band picks up waves from a specific machine owned." The girl looked back at Colin and Jackson. "It was made by Justine, based on the item Glyph showed her, and inherited by the last living Tum'aga member. It memorizes the magic patterns of all Millenium Items and can either mimic those patterns, or cancel them out. Our pseudo-tem overpowers yours, Prospero." She placed her stuff back into the case. "Now then. Lets start negotiations."

(To be Continued in New Testament 015: Showtime!)

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Jinzo Lord

-  
Call of the Haunted

**Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Mistral Silver Shield  
Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn  
Blackwing - Bora the Spear  
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind  
D.D. Crow

-  
_Surprise Attack from the Darkness (+)_

_(+) Used by Marik in YGO Season 3, see also the first Story for the card effect_


	15. Showtime!

**New Testament 015: Showtime!**

After a brief sequence of bantering and bargaining, Prospero finally seemed to lighten up to the idea of joining them. Though he had one request, which he could still make because he was keeping things a secret even now. "I will tell you exactly how I got my gift, and why it shows me the future. But only if I obtain something in return. Ms. Blackstone here is the only one whose future I can not see, because of that you two are getting vague as well. Therefor I want to gain that same power, I want to make sure that none avoid my sight." Lydia smirked, this was good enough for her. "Very well. All you have to do is become a devoted student to Marcus Simmons." She tapped her case, shook the cards inside. "Then you could even get a special deck like I do, since you seem to enjoy the game. Who knows, you may even get your own Synchro." Colin flinched. "Hey you never offered that to us. And does everyone in your club get one of those damn Synchros?" The girl glared at him. "Of course we do. I just did not need to use mine against him."

"Synchro?" The seer missed that explanation. "We will tell you on the plane. For now, just come with us." She turned around. "Bring whatever you need as well, and cancel what you do not need. This will not be a short visit." She herself remembered to meet her own needs, and those of the teacher. _"Mission: success." _At the same time she took out her cell phone and sent a text message to her boss. "Feh. Did we even need to come along, she handled it quite well all by herself." Colin spat. "It does not matter which one succeeded, Sairve. Only that it worked in the end." Jackson said. "Yeah like I believe that. Which one of you is talking now, certainly not one of the Personae that are ticked off." Doe did not respond to that one, though he did smile briefly. It was true that parts of his mind felt a frustration similar to Colins. Though that was mostly because Marcus kept hiding things from them. "And just so you know. It's not envy talking." Said the fortune teller whose readings were always wrong. "Well okay it is a little, but dont tell him that."

On the other side of the world, a plane set foot on American soil. Marcus's second private jet landed on a small airport near Cleo's current location. "We're here?" Christine yawned. She had fallen asleep during the journey, which had taken up a good deal of hours. "Yeah." William meanwhile could not catch sleep, mostly because the sun never stopped shining. "But what time is it? It took us about half a day to get here, so shoulnd't it be midnight?" The sky was still quite bright, a red hue arose from the east. "You have to account for timezones. There is a seven-hour difference between here and England. So while we took off before the evening started, we arrived just after." He took in the air as he stepped out. "Ah, that is good then. The tournament has got to be over by now, but it is not too late to get to Cleo before nightfall." She rubbed her eyes and got up as well. "Yeah, about that. I received some information along the way. A bit of data that is going to delay us." He sighed. "What, traffic problems?" He shook his head. "No.."

Some time later, in a hired van, driving on the freeway to the city. "A late-night special?" Christine had to hear it again to believe it. "Yes. This tournament started this morning, and the semifinals took place a few hours ago. But for the finals the sponsors went the extra mile. The final two duelists will compete in the grand arena of the theme park they rented." Rose already knew the answer to the next question though. "And one of those two is.." Carter nodded. "Yeah, Cleo. She is going to duel some guy named Ceasar, according to the latest broadcast." The irony was lost on them, since they did not have a bracket. "This game is getting out of hand. And I am curious how she got this far. I know that she is a skilled player. But to reach the finals could also imply.." The two shared a long look at each other. "She might have The Puzzle on her, she could be using it to win her way to the last match." Christine hated to say it, yet it was possible. This was the way Cleo worked before they met her. "We will see soon enough."

Eventually they found the place, and were free to leave once they parked the car in the only free zone. "Geez. A lot of people came to see this. I fear it will not be easy to drag her away now." The parking lot was like a maze of cars. "Who says we have to be hasty? Can't we wait for her to finish the game?" Christine asked Will. "Time is of the essence here. You know that, and you know I dislike waiting. If she has the puzzle, she needs to give it to us immediately." He said harshly. "Plus she would know where Nero is. If Cleo does not have it, he might." Rose suddenly stopped walking. "I understand. But.. I.. I think I should be the one to ask her." Carter could at least agree to that. "Very well. Now let's keep walking." It was hard to miss it, the arena that is. All spotlights were upon it, all the noise came from it, all the people walked into it. Though there was one obstacle they had not counted on. "Ticket please." They forgot to buy themselves in, apparently a park ticket did not include special shows. "Great. Does this mean, we have to.."

"What are you two doing here?" Said a familiar and sharp voice. "Cleo?" And their recognition senses payed off, as it was indeed Cleo Caine that now stood behind them. "Yeah that is my name still. Thanks for remembering it." She halfsmiled. "But I asked you a question, Christine, William." She looked at both of them. "Well, we came here for you of course." Christine replied. She sounded enthusiastic, and that got in the way of things Carter also wanted to say. "We heard you were in the tournament, and you even made it to the finals, and.." Caine in response gained a curious look on her face. "Well, I did not expect this. So whats keeping you outside? The game starts soon." She already knew the answer though. "You dont have tickets do you? Thats fine. I can arrange something." The goth walked over to the nearest guard and whispered something into his ear. "Hmmph" He seemed to frown at the suggestion, yet he stepped aside. "I took care of it. You can watch from the duelist stands now." She smirked. "Oh ehr, thank you.."

They walked through the opening into the long hallways. "I did not think you would come all the way to America just to see this. Because these bozo's are putting it on television eventually. I still can not believe how far they are willing to promote it." Rose and Carter could not either, what with them having seen Marcus's reality duel show. "And you came really late too, you missed all the other duels and could not buy a ticket in time." Just then she started to realize something. "So... you did not come here for little old me, did you?" Christine gasped, but Will kept a stern expression. "Cleo. I did not want to rush this for your sake. But you must know that time is off the essence. There is a great threat coming, and we need the Millenium Puzzle. So if you still have it in your possession, then.." And then Caine snapped. "Oh I get it!"

The goth turned around and pointed at herself. "You're thinking 'how did she ever get this far? Surely she can not have the skills to get to the finals! She must have used the Item because it gives her cheating powers. Just like how she used it in the old days!" Her anger surprised the pair, yet Will remained steady. "You did not answer the question." He said. "Well you are not getting it, you can be the judge and jury! It will not make a difference either way. You can not leave yet, there is someone I must crush first!" With that she stomped off. "Will." Christine sighed. "Yeah I know. I could have handled that better."

Left with no choice but to wait for her to finish this game, they both headed for the place they could watch the duel from. It reminded them of the previous year, the tournament where they all met for the first time. This stage was smaller of course, as it was designed to host shows for the theme park. They were not alone, it appeared several contestants stayed here to watch the final match as well. The seminfinalists all got free tickets anyway. "Lets hope this does not last too long." They took their seat. "Hm?" And immediately the person next to them took notice. "Wait a second." And in his surprise he got up. "It is you!" Which also caught them off guard. "Do we know you?" William could not remember meeting this fellow, he looked like just another young duelist to him. "No. But I know you." He winked rather suggestively. "Ehr." Which was not really putting them at ease. "Oh. I mean, I remember you from the news. You were one of the viral survivors, werent you? You were at that other tournament." Will was not sure what to say.

"Oh I am sorry. I did not mean to push. My name is Scott, Scott Bryce. I just recognize that face since I followed that story religiously." He offered his hand, which Carter reluctantly shook. "Well, forgive my confusion. I never met someone who spoke to me about it. Aside from the others." He nodded at Christine. "Oh yeah, you are one too. Wwow, both of you at the same place. You must have gotten closer and.." He realized he was trailing off his intended path and shook his head again. "Sorry, sorry. I talk too much. I didnt want to bring up the past. So you came for the finals huh?" He found a new subject. "Yeah ehr. We decided to see if we wanted to come back in the game. But we were too late." Christine quickly said. "I see. Trauma and all that. But I can not blame you, these duels are addictive. I wish I could have gone on forever." He looked ahead to the field. "Alas. My skills are not much compared to him, he beat me in the semifinals." They followed his gaze. "You mean that guy?" They saw Cleo's challenger.

On the left side of the center platform was the duelist clad in black, the warrior wielding Ceasar. He had made it to the finals because he was one of the few had boosted his deck with the new card type: Synchro monsters. There were few who used them at this point in the game, and even less present at this competition. "It is time ladies and gentleman!" Meanwhile Cleo stood on the right side, her eyes averting looks from the stand, and her supposed friends. "You have waited all day for this moment, now comes the fight which decides it all." The anouncer cheered on from his skybox "Who will get the title of American champion: Cleo Caine or Ceasar Andrews?" The spotlights turned on, the cameras started rolling. "It is showtime!" Both players took out their deck, and the judge stepped up, taking the mic.

"Please shuffle each others cards on this here table, and return to your positions." They did so, walking towards each other. "Well, here we are again. Cleo." He greeted her with a smile. "And I must admit, I did not expect you to make it this far." They started shuffling, he did it gently, while she was rather rough. "What. It was not like I needed what you stole from me." She said, knowing very well her own Omega card could possible be in his deck right now. "I detect bitterness. You have come for retribution. Haven't you?" She was done, but he kept on going. "But I would not want to have it any other way. Our names spell it out, 'my queen'. You and I were destined to be rivals." Finally he finished it up, and she quickly took her cards back. Putting it into her dueldisk. "Rivals? That would imply us to be equal. I can not accept that." He simply chuckled. "I know." The two competitors stepped away from the table, which slid into the floor. "You are not there yet, are you?" And then they drew their cards, the game was on.

Cleo's LP: 8000 Ceasars LP: 8000

"Ladies first." He said. "Original." She rasped and looked at her hand. She mostly had zombie monster cards and only one spell. However Ceasar basically had the same hand as well, though his were filled with warriors naturally. "I set a monster card facedown, and activate the continuous spell Dark Door!" A gateway of dark fog appeared in the middle of the dueling field. "Only one monster can attack me every turn. My turn is over." Ceasar nodded and entered his. "Defense is the first test." He weighed his options. In his hand he had Getsu Fuhma, the undead slayer. She could easily kill her defensive card if it was a zombie. Chances of that were high. "However." He felt like teaching her a lesson instead, a lesson of damage. "I normal summon Marauding Captain(1200/400), and use its effect!" He summoned the warrior that could special summon a lv4 (or lower) monster from his hand at the same time. "Come out, Twin Sword Marauder!" Next appeared a lightly armored warrior with three daggers on each wrist(1600/1000).

"It attacks your facedown!" The Marauder slashed through her set monster, only to find out that it could not be cut. "Hah. You attacked my Spirit Reaper(300/200)" She boasted, her reaper monster would never die from normal attacks. "I expected as much, my queen. However this is why I sent my Twin Swords. For they have the ability to pierce!" Suddenly the clawswords lashed out at Caine herself. "Now you will suffer, 1600 minus 200 means 1400 damage to your lifepoints!" She was about to get hit, when the unpredictable happened. A card was discarded from her hand, and a wall of fuzzy critters blocked the Twin Sword. "What? Kuriboh?!" And he did not foresee that card, as she had never used it before. "Yeah. I discard a Kuriboh to block the damage. Guess who improved their deck since the last meeting?"

(To be Continued in Testament 016: Emperor and Queen)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Kuriboh

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**Twin Sword Marauder


	16. Emperor and Queen

**Testament 016: Emperor and Queen**

Cleo's LP: 8000 Ceasars LP: 8000

"Oh my, Cleo stopped Ceasars first assault by discarding the Kuriboh card from her hand. Which blocks battle damage from 1 hit!" The anouncer yelled excitedly, the audience was starting to feel the rush of the game. "Impressive indeed, Cleo. You used the Ante to your advantage as well, didn't you?" Ceasar said, as his monster retracted his left sword claw. "Feh. A fiend is still a fiend, it suited me." She shrugged. "However." he raised one finger. "I am affraid you can not pull that move again. And.." Suddenly the warrior(1600/1000) slashed Spirit Reaper(300/200) with its right hand. "This card has the name 'Twin Sword' for a reason. If it attacked a defending monster, it can attack one more time!" This time, she could not stop the piercing damage the Marauder inflicted, so she suffered 1400 damage after all. "Oh!! Ceasar takes the first hit!" Her life went down to 6600. "I end my turn now. I hope you enjoy your current number, queen Cleo. It is almost that of the devils, ey?" He found it very hilarious, she just grumbled. "You like numbers huh."

Cleo's LP: 6600

This time Cleo drew a trap during her draw phase. "Good. I set this card facedown." She looked at the monsters in her hand, and which one would be the best choice. _"I could tribute summon Vampire Lord. But for now I think I should keep the Reaper on my field." _So instead she summoned her chessboard Archfiend, the ShadowKnight (2000/1600). "I understand that Marauding Captain(1200/400) has the annoying ability to defend other warrior-types. So I gotta attack that card." The demon charged the Captain, immobilising him with his claw. "Which is all too easy!" And with the blade on its other hand, it cut the commander down. "Oh but, the damage this particular card inflicts is always halved." He explained as the 800 points of damage were cut down to 400. "I know that!" His LP went down to 7600. "A difference equal to a millenium. And that is symbolic on a different level." He smirked. _"Millenium?"_ From the stands, Carter heard it too, and thought it was weird how he emphasised that word. "Speaking of levels..the next stage cometh"

Ceasars LP: 7600

"Oh great, you mean.." Caine knew what was coming. "Tuner monster!" He normal summoned a cartoonish asian officer wielding an old type of Baton(700/900). "Jutte Knight. This Tuner is of the 2nd level. Twin Swords is of the 4th." The crowd was doing the math already. "Two plus four equals Six. I Synchro Summon.." The Knight and the Marauder flew up into the air, reverting themselves to energy and combining their level stars. "Goyo Guardian!" And from the extra deck came the level 6 Synchro Kabuki Warrior, the one that beat Cleo the first round. "I never expected to use it against you twice. But here we are, and here it comes!" The Guardian(2800/2000) threw his baton whip at the Shadow Archfiend. Not only would this blow kill it, it would also be special summoned to the opponents field, enslaved by the Goyo monster. "Yeah the thing is. I have seen it by now!" She revealed her facedown trap card. "Scrapiron Scarecrow!" A scarecrow made from scraps and erected on a cross appeared, and his attack was blocked. "Huh?"

"This trap can negate 1 attack from a monster. And also, instead of going to the cemetery once activated, it is set back down on my field." Goyo Guardian retreated and the Scrap trap was hidden once more. "It's almost like a continuous trap." Christine gasped. "She must have won that during the previous rounds as well." Ante had done a lot for Cleo's deck indeed. "You can defend against me now. Yet, can you overcome 2800 worth of attackpoints?" Ceasar doubted it. "We shall see." Cleo drew again, getting another monster. "To keep the Archfiend on the field, I have to pay 900 LP." She did so and also she switched the Archfiend to defense mode. "I set another monster in facedown defense position." Her turn was over, she could not attack right now. "It seems Cleo has been driven into a corner!" The anouncer said loudly, causing her to moan. "Thanks." Still she had a pretty good setup here. Plenty of defensive monsters, Dark Door which made sure only one monster could strike every turn, and the Scarecrow to stop that one monster.

Cleo's LP: 5700

"You must be confident in your protective cards, queen Cleo. Yet you forget so soon. I have already shown you a weakness in The Dark Door." He played an equip spell. "Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce. I discard a card from my hand to activate it." He threw away The Immortal Bushido. At the same time Goyo's one baton changed into two sparkling swords with whip extensions(2300/2000). "Why would you play a spell that weakens your monster?" She asked him. "You will see... now!" Goyo leapt forward, throwing one sword at the demon again. "Scrapiron Scarecrow!" She countered with her trap once more, deflecting the first sword with it. "Second attack!" Only to realize the power of Tryce. "Twin Swords, gah!" Goyo could now attack twice in a turn, and its second strike took down the Knight. "Unfortunately, you can not use a trap during the turn you set it." The whip coiled around the dying Shadowfiend, and dragged it over to Ceasars side of the field, making it one of his servants. "So that is the power of a Synchro." William sighed.

"I wonder... I expected you to come up with an answer to Goyo as soon as you managed to stop it. Yet you did not. Maybe you can solve this puzzle then." He could still normal summon, so he called out his demon slayer. "Getsu Fuhma(1700/1200). Remember her?" Cleo did. This was the female who killed any fiend or zombie after the damage step, even if she was killed in the process. "I do not like what you're trying to say." She now too sensed Ceasar was hinting at an unseen subject. And her Reaper was no longer safe. "And it does not matter. The solution to that monster is already in my hands." The card she drew was a trap, which could be useful against Goyo. But for Fuhma, she had 'him'. "I sacrifice Spirit Reaper!" Her move shocked the others, why would she tribute an immortal card? "And call out the Vampire Lord!" It was replaced with the king of Nosferatu, the level 5 Vampire Lord (2000/1200). "Kill Getsu Fuhma!" And the Lord sent waves of bats from his cape to drain the female of all her lifeforce. "Already in your hand, you said."

Ceasars LP: 7300

Of course, due to Getsu's abilities, Vampire Lord suddenly found her sword in his chest. "Yes. I did not just draw it through luck or anything." The bloodsucker was sent to a grave as well. "Then. You do not have 'it'?" Her eyes widened, as did those of her friends. "It?" Some of the clueless audience members repeated. "You.." Her suspicions came true, he knew about the Puzzle after all. Or at least he knew she used something to cheat in her former dueling days. "No. I do not." She spoke, giving a quick glare to William in the distance. Who started to feel a little guilty after that. "You can accuse me all you want, Emperor. But I made it to this final with my own skills and simple fortune. No tricks, no magic, just little old me. And I am going to beat you the same way." She finished her turn at last. "You sounds honest. I was just curious, due to the fact that my theory sounded more likely than yours." His turn began. "Though, as for your hopes of beating me, and regaining the card I took from you. I can not see it happening."

He drew once more, obtaining a spell card which he was very happy with. "Ow." Less happy was the lifepoint payment the enslaved Shadowknight demanded. "Heh. Regretting your thieving ways?" She could at least laugh at it. "It is a paltry sum." He switched the demon to attack position. "I normal summon Field Commander Rahz (1600/1200) This card pushes a warrior from my deck to the top when summoned." He searched his deck and placed another Jutte Knight on top. "Next the Equipment Spell, Glory Shield!" Now Goyo Guardian also had a Shield equipped, though he received no apparent stat boosts. "A monster equipped with this card, will prevent any traps from activating until it's attack has passed." Cleo cringed, she could not activate Scarecrow or her other trap anymore. "And The Twin Swords are still in effect!" The Synchro Monster threw both of its electric blades at Cleo. One destroyed her final facedown monster, which was immediately enslaved by the whips. "Second!" The other hit her directly for 2300 damage.

Ceasars LP: 6400 Cleo's LP: 3400

_Glory Shield, Equip Spell  
__If the equipped monster attacks, your opponent cannot activate spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step.  
__If the equipped monster inflicts battle damage to your opponents lifepoints, you can destroy 1 spell or trap card on the field._

"The monster you killed, I will use its effect now!" She yelled suddenly. "Oh?" Ceasar saw that he had taken a Goblin Zombie(1100/1050) from her field. And when one of those died, the former owner could add another zombie to her hand, if it had less than 1200 defense. She added a Dragon Zombie with zero defense to her hand. "Well. Now that you are done. It is my turn to use effects. Behold!" Goyo Guardian raised its shield, and released a beam from it. "When a Glory Shield-equiped monster does damage, it can destroy a spell or trap as well!" The beam hit The Dark Door, shattering it. "Aha! Now he can attack with his other monsters as well!" Shadowknight and Rahz both used this advantage and surrounded the defenseless Cleo. "I really do not like you anymore." She could still use her Scrapiron trap against one of the two, and she chose the monster whose inflicted damage would not be halved. Rahz was blocked, while the Archfiend swiped her with his claw for a thousand damage. "One millenia, make that four!"

Cleo's LP: 2400

"... You know, I was wondering. How do you know about 'that' anyway?" The subject was still nagging at her. "Oh I thought you knew." He replied. "I work with someone in the proper circles." He pointed at his own Synchro Monster. "The one that gave me this. Marcus Simmons." And the name was dropped, which gave her the shock of the hour. "Him?" She would remember that man. "Ah you do still know." Her expression changed after this. "You work for that man. Thanks, now I have another reason to hate you. And that card of yours too, because he must have made it." Her turn finally started. "Vampire Lord." A coffin emerged from the floor, and the vampire came out of it. "That was expected. When killed by card effects, like Fuhma's, he is resurrected the next round." And she was going to call out more, as he normal summoned the Dragon Zombie(1600/0) from her hand. "Goyo Guardian has got to go now." She stated. "And I do not need power." She played a continuous spell called Domino Effect.

"Here I come." And then the battle phase started. "Dragon Zombie kills that Goblin Zombie you stole!" The undead dragon sent the Goblin away with foul flames. "And Vampire Lord kills Rahz!" Another wave of bats sucked the Field Commander dry. "And how is this supposed to destroy my Synchro?" He wondered. "Like this. Now is the moment for Domino's effect!" Something odd happened, right after Rahz died. "When a monster of yours is killed by me in battle. I can sacrifice one of my own monsters to kill one of yours with the spell!" The Dragon Zombie became stiff and fell over, crashing into the Guardian. "My word." This toppled the warrior in turn, sending it down into a million pieces. "Like Domino's. I actually claimed this card just to see how it looked like in 3D." She was the one smiling now. "So you managed to destroy one Synchro, eh? Good for you. Just do not let it get to your head, queen. The extra deck can hold up to 15 of these. There are two more Goyo Guardians, and much much worse in store.."

Ceasars LP: 6000

During his next standby phase, Ceasar payed another 900 LP to keep the Archfiend on his field. "_Rahz placed a certain card on top of his deck. He will draw that now." _Just as telegraphed, Ceasar added Jutte Knight to his hand. "Now I can simply call the second Guardian." He summoned the tuner(700/900). "Shadowknight is a level 4, which means.." He had six stars on his field, enough to syncho summon his Guardian. "Synchro summon!" The archfiend and dynasty warrior were sent to their retrospective graves. In turn his Goyo Guardian (2800/2000) materialized. "Persistent aren't they? Is Synchro summoning all you can do from now on?" Some duelists at least mixed it up a little, she thought. "I end my turn. For the moment I have nothing that can bypass your Scarecrow." Though there were cards in his deck that could bypass that trap. "And you should know, this card here. It is not even my best Synchro card. After all I was the first to win the trust of Marcus. He made me all the Warrior Synchros a duelist could need."

Ceasars LP: 5100

Speaking off the devil. Simmons had returned to his base in the morning, and discovered the message Lydia sent him from Italy. "Success." He now knew that the three had managed to gain the seers item and his allegiance. Though it appeared that they would be delayed due to traffic jams. "And a message from.... wait?!" Before he could check the other text messages, he found out that his database had made a discovery of its own. "Well well, the computer found something in my absence." He wondered if it was one of the seven items. But the hit was not that definitive. Whatever it was though, the location was close by for once. He could send one of his friends to retrieve whatever the computer was hinting at. "_But by the time they return, it may be too late." _He rubbed his chin, there had to be a faster way to solve all this. He could call Cable, if he felt like it. "_Hey now." _He checked his roster of contest winners. "_Foolish me. I forget that I have an entire legion of willing assistants_." Simmons smirked and took his phone at hand. "The lucky one is.."

(To be Continued in Testament 017: A Necessary Evolution)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Goblin Zombie

-  
Domino Effect

-  
Scrapiron Scarecrow

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**Jutte Knight  
Field Commander Rahz

-  
Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce  
_Glory Shield (+)  
__(+) Based on the card used by Gil in YGO 5D_


	17. A Necessary Evolution

**Testament 017: A Necessary Evolution**

Cleo's LP: 2400 Ceasars LP: 5100

"Draw." Cleo continued the duel against Ceasar, who had already symmoned his second Goyo Guardian(2800/2000). "_Book of Life huh?" _She drew a good spell, but hesitated to play it. "_I've got to make things look desperate for a little while."_ She shifted the Vampire Lord(2000/1200) to defense position, and that was it for this turn. "Again you must cower, queen Cleo." Ceasar was pretty pleased with himself, especially after his draw phase. "And now you can say goodbye to your last shield. For I just obtained the card to destroy it: Psychic Cyclone!" He played a quickplay spell card. "This card can be used when 2 or more cards are set on the field. If I can guess whether it is a trap or a spell, I can destroy it and draw 1 card from my deck." If he guessed wrong, she could draw also. But it would never come to that, since he already knew what he wanted to destroy. "I choose your right set trap card: Scrapiron Scarecrow!" A gust of wind arose which shattered the scarecrow trap. "Oho, Cleo is wide open now!" The anouncer shouted.

_Psychic Cyclone  
__When your opponent has 2 or more face-down spell or trap cards on the field, you can select 1 of them.  
__Declare if it is a spell or trap card, and destroy it. If you declared correctly, draw 1 card. If you didn't, your opponent draws 1 card._

Because he guessed correctly, he could draw a card from his deck, a spell card which he placed down. "I would like to see if your monster can survive this. I attack the Vampire Lord!" Goyo Guardian made his move, using its baton whip. "Finish him!" Several harsh lashes later, and there seemed to be nothing left of the undead monster. And everyone was waiting to see it come to Ceasars side of the field. "Look behind you." Yet it never came. "What??!" A hand came from the floor. "Trap card: Michizure. When a monster of mine is killed in battle, yours is dragged into the grave as well! Its a murder-suicide combo, heh." Vampire Lord took Goyo Guardian down with it, preventing it from being enslaved at the same time. "Ugh. you tricked me. You made me destroy the wrong trap." That was his second Synchro loss now. He only had one more Guardian in his extra deck. "Heh. You're starting to sound annoyed. I like that sound." She waited for him to either use that last card in his hand, or end his turn. Ceasar reluctantly picked the second option.

"Amazing. Cleo has cleared his field, that's the first time since the duel started!" And she had been waiting for such an advantage. "Time to hit, and hit hard!" She summoned Gil Gurse, the armored demon (1800/1200) from her hand. "And when I say hard, I mean it." Next she finally played Book of Life, to revive the Vampire from his coffin once more. "I use the Books second effect as well, removing a Goyo Guardian in your grave from play." Now she had a total of 3800 attackpoints on her field. "Direct attack!" Gil Gurse slashed his scimitar across the duelist clad in black. "And again!" And next a swarm of bats started pecking at his hair. It was almost as if her holograms did it on purpose. "Guess who is in the lead." She grinned as his LP dropped close to a thousand. "Let's see you millenium-pun these numbers. I set a card and end my turn." Christine and William were surprised as well, they almost feared she would lose this match and not come with them out of spite. ".." Yet Ceasar looked as unimpressed as always.

Ceasars LP: 1300

"I am getting tired of our games, Cleo Caine." Suddenly a monster appeared from his cemetery, a wounded samurai(1200/600). "Remember this? I discarded it a few rounds ago, to activate Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce. This is the Immortal Bushi, who comes back to life during the standby phase, if no other monsters are on my field." And also if all the monsters in his cemetery were warrior-types. "Next, spell card: The Warrior Returning Alive. To send a dead soldier back to my hand." He returned Marauding Captain. "This one I normal summon, and use its special summoning effect." The commander(1200/400) appeared and called out another subordinate. A strange monster that looked like two jesters fused together. "Tora Part(600/600), another Tuner." This was bad news. Torapart was level 2, the others were level 3, the endresult would be a synchro monster with 8 stars. "Threeway Syncho summon!" He sent all his monsters away to use their stars for a new monster. "Colossal Fighter(2800/1000)!"

It was a soldier armored from top to toe, looking more machine than man. "This monsters power has just begun, it gains 100 attackpoints for every warrior that died this duel." Three tuners, two Marauders, two Samurai, a Commander and a Synchro: nine were gone. Nine powered up the gigant, gems on its armor lighted up (3700/1000). "Gil Gurse? Kill Gurse!" And it delivered a quick punch to the swordwielding fiend, blowing it to ashes with an energyblast from its fist. "Trap card!" She tried to activate her facedown. But it did not go off. "What the?" The blow dropped her LP to near zero, and put him back in the lead. "Heh. I forgot to mention, a Synchro Monster tuned with Tora Part prevent trap activations when it strikes. You see you never had a shot at winning this." He ended his turn. "How can you expect to beat someone who has mastered the art of Synchro summoning?" Cleo grunted and drew her next card. "You make it sound so difficult, Emperor. When in fact.. it's rather easy." She summoned a monster. "Wh-what?"

Cleo's LP: 500

He was stunned, in front of her was a level 2 machine-type monster(300/100), and it was a Tuner as well. "Nitro Synchron?!" A guy in the stands gasped. "That's the card she took from me!" He said. Apparently he was a semifinalist she beat. "You want to.." She shook her head. "I do not want this. I need this. It's a necessary evil." She started the process. "Vampire Lord is level 5, Nitro Synchron is level 2. The specific Synchro is level 7. Here we go." Both the Nitro tank and the Vampire disappeared to make place for the only card in Cleo's Extra Deck: Nitro Warrior. "You won both of them.. you used the double ante rule..." It was a horned warrior/machine hybrid (2800/1800). "Why? Why did you take this card of all cards?" He demanded to know. "Well look at it genius. It has as much attackpoints as Omega, the card you stole. Plus it can get an additional 1000 if I play a spell this turn." That effect was similar to Omega's as well. "Aha! But your hand is empty, you cant use a spell this turn. Your Synchro is wasted!" He laughed.

"You could be right." Cleo suddenly drew a card from her deck. "Though then you'd miss that Nitro Synchron has an effect; when its tuned for a Nitro-type monster, I can draw an extra card. And this is.." She showed it to her. It was a spell. "The Shallow Grave!" Both players revived a monster from their graves, placing them facedown. "No." He set his other Goyo Guardian, while she set her Spirit Reaper. "Battle." Nitro Warrior unleashed an aura of flames, Shallow Grave had powered it up (3800/1800). "Attack." Meanwhile the Colossus was weakened, because one of its warriors was no longer dead (3600/1800). "Die!" And it was consumed by the nitro fumes, and Ceasar took 200 damage. "It is not the end yet!" Yet once the flames left the field, it appeared that the Synchro had not even been burned. "Hey, I killed it?" The opponent flicked his finger. "Yes you did. However, the Gigant has a second effect. When it dies in battle, it can revive any warrior. Including itself." Cleo shrugged. "Is that all?" And she killed the revived Fighter died all over again.

Ceasars LP: 1100

"How did.." He quickly came to realize, he had neglected one spell. "Domino Effect." Because she killed Colossal Fighter in battle she could reactivate it. Cleo sacrificed the set Reaper to destroy the revived Gigant. "And he can not revive anyone if its killed by an effect." He said to himself. "Yet you failed to finish me. And now it is my turn!" That was true. There was a second power hidden inside Nitro Warrior, but Goyo Guardian was too strong to fall prey to it. Also the powerboost could only be used once a turn, now it was merely equal(2800/1800) to that card. "Heh, and you left me with a sizeable leftover." He flipped the Guardian face-up(2800/2000). "We are back at the beginning, Cleo. Behold." He activated an equipment spell card: Fighting Spirit. "Hmph." Caine still remembered, it would strenghten the equipped card by 300 points for every monster the opponent had. She had only one, yet that put Goyo's attackpoints(3100/2000) above Nitro Warriors. "You will not die from this. But your defeat will be sealed, queen Cleo!"

"Then attack me, and get it over with." She still did not sound impressed. "Good old Cleo, confident until the end. But make no mistake, this is.." Goyo Guardian launched himself at the Nitro soldier, its whip crackling with energy. "Stop talking.. as if you know me!" It was in this instant that she used the trap she could not have used before. "Mirror Wall!" A permanent effect was summoned, a wall of crystals erected in front of Nitro Warrior. "No!" The whip could not penetrate the crystal wall, and at the same time her Synchro grabbed it. "Mirror wall halves the attack of the enemy attackers. Now it is my turn to counter!" Nitro yanked the cord and pulled the weakened Goyo(1550/2000) closer. "Take this!" And a stream of green flames was unleashed, as the Warriors free fist plowed through him. "He will survive?" Monsters equipped with Fighting Spirit could not be killed in battle, but it did not matter. "Gaaah." Ceasar lost all of his lifepoints regardless, and with that he had lost the game as well. "She won!" Rose gasped.

Ceasars LP: 0

"The winner is, Cleo!" The anouncer shouted over every communicator, and the crowd erupted into a furious cheer. Some were upset, others were happy for her, however the endresult could not be contested. Cleo merely sighed. "_Yeah I beat him. But at what cost? Now I have to admit I used something Marcus made_." Ceasar looked annoyed himself. "_I did not expect my teachers cards to come back to haunt me. I would say it is almost unfair_." Though the reality remained the same, he was not the champion, not anymore. "Now then. Judge, should we not do a final ante exchange? Before we settle the prices and so on?" She quickly fell back to her routine of claiming just rewards. "Yes yes. Though neither of you specified what to bet at the start." Which in this tournament meant they could trade two cards after the duel instead. "I will take my Omega back now. And while I am at it, your Colossal Fighter." He gasped. "But you do not even use warrior-types." She smiled. "I know. But it can be sold for a handsome sum online."

"So should we go to see her now?" Christine asked Carter, who she figured was waiting for this moment. "I doubt it. There is likely going to be a ceremony for the winner, where she receives her trophy and or pirce cards. After that, I think we can persuade her." So the two had to hold out for another minute. At which point the anouncer himself came down to the stage. He gave Cleo Caine the proof of her championship, which were basically two cards: a playing card and a special nonplayable card. "Just this?" She was naturally a little disappointed. Then again she never expected a big golden trophy. "This card is the Treasure of the Kings Hand-card. Only one exists in each country. Whoever holds it is the King, or in your case, the queen of Duel Monsters." The effectless card had the image of a crown on it. The other card was the secret rare hobby league promo, The Wicked Eraser. "Thanks anyway." She managed to say, and halfheartedly waved at the audience. They were of less importance to her now, she needed to see someone..

"Here I am, so get on with it." She met up with the two at the edge of the arena, once she escaped some nosy reporters. "Cleo. Congratulationss with your victory." Christine wanted to applaud her first, Will had other ideas. "Indeed. But we need to hurry, so I will explain everything along the way." They already started walking out of the park. "That is if you want to come with us. If not then you need to tell us right here and now.." The goth suddenly laughed. "I know, I know. You want the puzzle. As I told Ceasar. I do not have it." The answer was obvious already. "Nero kept it. He and I both felt that he was the better person to keep it safe. He even promised to hand it over to Cable eventually, though seeing you two means that never happened." She shrugged, it was not her business anymore. "In any case, Nero no longer lives around these parts. He moved with his family to Europe, The Millenium Puzzle is over there." Christine was surprised to hear this. "He moved. But why?" She in turn acted stunned. "Wait, you did not know about..."

Though the trio had left the populated area, their return trip to the plane had not gone unnoticed. If there was one bitter mind that did not let go easily, it was the other dark-clothed individual. He watched the van depart, standing in the shadows of the parking lot. "_Interesting. These people are after the millenia." _Ceasar had heard every word, somehow overcoming the limits distance put on sounds. "_Teacher Marcus would like to hear about this. If he has not already_." Simmons was already aware of the hunt, but even he did not know yet where Nero was living these days. So that last bit of information would come in handy if he told him before they arrived back in England. He picked up his phone. "_Oh right, the timezone. He could be asleep right now. No matter, I will come see him myself then."_

(To be Continued in New Testament 018: The Best Medicine)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Nitro Synchron  
Nitro Warrior

-  
Michizure

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**The Immortal Bushi  
Torapart  
Colossal Fighter

-  
_Psychic Cyclone (+)  
_The Warrior Returning Alive

_(+) Based on the card used by Takasu/Armstrong in Yugioh 5D_


	18. The Best Medicine

New Testament 018: The Best Medicine

It took a while, but the return trip was a lot less boring now that Cleo, William and Christine actually had something to talk about. Though for the goth it was all a little jarring, and not just because of the news she received. By the time they landed, they had gone from late in the evening to a few minutes past noon. "I should have gotten some sleep, gah." She shielded her eyes against the sun as she stepped out. "Where are we now?" Looking down she saw that they were at Marcus's private airport. And they were not alone, an old friend was there waiting for them. "Cleo!" Cable waved at her, from his position next to a helicopter. "I figured you would come here, and not that 'companion' of yours." She grumbled. "Ah. I see you have been brought up to date on our current affairs." He said, knowing that she was likely not happy with any of it. "Yes. They told me. And I can not believe that we have to go through another dark evil. Why couldn't Orichalcos have been the end of it." She sighed. "And now we need part of the old threat to combat the new."

"Wait a second. Where is the second plane?" The jet that carried Colin and Jackson was not here. "Did they make it back to the base yet?" He asked Fraser. "Fraid not. They got held up, but they should be here soon." He shook his head. "How is that possible? They went to Italy, we came all the way from another continent! How can they be so late?" Caine fumed. She did not like to sit still right now. "Apparently their target took a lot of time to convince, Cleo. And even after that, they had to settle with traffic jams and 'the person' cancelling several appointments and reservations. He did not want to leave town before that." Though he figured they could arrive well within the next hour. "In any case. Once they are here, we will need to decide our next course of action." Their plan was still to get as many Millenium Items before the gate was opened. "And I believe Simmons has already found one path for us." He looked specifically at Cleo now. "Do you remember De Le Isla?" She flinched as she heard the name. "What?"

"You mean Ananka?" Christine and William also had fresh memories of her. "Of course. I would recall the woman whose life I took." Cleo's memory was sadly the sharpest, as she was there when Ananka died due to a heart attack, induced after their duel. "Cleo. You can not say that, it was not you who dueled her that time. It was.." Everyone knew very well who had possessed her though, the dark spirit Jacob was the true murderer. "Shut up. You were not there." She hissed, which Christine did not like. "But I know how it feels. And there is nothing to be ashamed off, we both took down that vile spirit together, remember?" That was also true, yet it would not bring Ananka back. "Why mention her anyway?" She snapped at Cable. "Ehr. Not to bring up the past. It is just that.. Ananka had a part of the Millenium Puzzle, and she said it had been an heirloom too. So Marcus did a search into her family history, to see if he could figure out how they got the pieces. The same question can be sent to Nero and you: how you got your hands on Puzzle parts."

"Well I already told you, I think. I merely found the center piece of the Puzzle, the ring for the rope." Which was why she first believed it to be just a magic ring. "I found it in my attic while cleaning." And then she used it for good fortune, until Glyph stole it. "Previous owners might have something to do with that. At any rate, Nero has the puzzle right now, all of it. He promised to send it to me eventually, but then he never called again." As if he dropped off of the map. "Well I can guess why." Will said, having listened to Cleo's explanations. "He is here in Europe, Switzerland to be exact. To the best hospital he could use, with the hush money the country had given him." This news surprised Cable. "A hospital? Why!?" William then continued. "It was for.. his parents. They were in a coma when he found them." He gasped. "A coma, how did this happen?" The answer was not pretty. "Jacob did it, when he was still a part of Nero's body. They never recovered, unlike me and Cleo." Rose cringed just thinking about it. "And we do not know why."

Neither did the doctors themselves understand, until this very day neither mother not father had awakened from their long slumber. But Nero visited them every day, hoping for just one bit of good news. He lived on his own in a nearby apartment, slowly he started to adapt to this lifestyle. Yet he longed to hear their voices one more time, he could not move on as he was now. "......" It was the same every time, he sat in his chair, opposite of their beds. He never knew what to say, and they probably would never hear him. Many times he apologized, for what Jacob did, and what me made him do. "_His death did not fix anything_." That alone was the bitter reality, their souls were taken into a world no modern medicine could reach. The fear was almost a fact now; their return would never come. _"Then I will never be free." _He wished there was a way to change all this, he thought he had the answer, but so far there were no results. He was stuck in a routine that lasted until this day, until he saw something new. "...is that.. is that a flower pot?"

He suddenly stormed out of the room, holding in his hands a card and a pained expression in his eyes. "Nurse." He called out to the nearest nurse, one of many in this section. "Nurse. Please, can you help me?" She quickly obliged. "This card... someone.. sent my parents ..a gift." The card was a standard 'get well soon' card. He found it in the room next to a flower bouquet, which he quite certainly had not put there himself. "Oh yes. A relative of yours dropped by to send her condolences, you just missed her." Nero was shocked; a family member came to visit? "_But I am an only child! I have no nieces, my aunt is already dead.." _The stort did not add up, though he did not share this with the nurse. "I did not expect that. Did you catch her name, what she looked like?" The woman nodded. "Well not her name, she did not give that. But it was a young girl, long dark hair, green dress. Does that sound familiar?" It did not, but he lied to her anyway. When he asked where she was now, she admitted she had no idea. But he would not let it go.

He continued his frantic run out of the hospital, hoping to find a glimpse of this mysterious benefactor. It was nice of someone to show compassion for his family's plight, but lying about one's identity did not imply a kind nature. To his surprise, his search did not last half as long as he expected. He already figured it would not be too difficult to find someone wearing a dress of sorts in these areas, yet there she was right around the corner. The girl sat on a bench, near the town park. Before he could even walk closer, she had noticed him. "You..." He froze in his tracks. She was smiling at him, anticipating a face-to-face meeting possibly. He did not need to ponder his actions twice, he crossed the street and stopped in front of her. "You... sent my parents those flowers?" He asked her, and before she could answer, he sent her another question. "Who are you, you're not part of the family." Finally she replied, still sitting down. "You're right as rain, on both accounts. Yes I did buy those flowers, no I am not in any way related to you."

"My name is Madlyn. Pleasure to meet you.." She extended a hand. "Madlyn?" He rejected it, for now. "Then why did you do it?" A random act of generosity was not the case here, he knew that much. "I felt sad for you, Nero. You looked so miserable. I wanted to lighten up your day!" She said, full of pep. "You.. hold it. How do you know my name?" He backed up. "Would you believe, I asked the nurse?" He shook his head. "Oh well, I could try. And you are cute when you get angry." A nerve popped on his forehead. "Tell me what you want!" He roared, causing her to shudder a little. "But so fierce too." She supposed now was the time to come clear. "A friend told me, told me all about you. People want to meet with you again, but you never call back." She closed her eyes and moaned. "Either you do not check your messages ever, or the changed adress fooled them all. But they found you, and now I have come to to get you." He felt less and less at ease, and he glared down at his coat pocket. "Yes, and your treasure too."

He nearly fell down after hearing this. "You.. know?" She nodded eagerly. "Course I do. Because your friends do too. They want it... for some reason. I did not ask why.." She shrugged. "Though I am curious, part of me wants to see it." She stood up and closed in on Nero. "Stay back. I can not trust you!" Just because she said she knew friends, did not mean they were his friends. "Oh do not be like that. It's to soon to end our meeting. Besides you sound a little selfish to me." She reached for a suitcase, which apparently had been hidden in the grass behind the couch. "What are you doing?" He clenched his fist. "Nothing serious. Why don't we play for a while, get to know each other better." Taking the flower hairpin from her hair, she forced the suitcase to open, a key was not quick enough for her. "Is that?" Inside the case were two dueldisks, one deckless. "Yes. This is what I was talking about." She almost immediately put one on her wrist and activated it. "I want to duel you, Nero Sullivan. This is what I really came to do.."

"Please be kind enough to accept.." He regretted doing it, but he took the disk. "If I refuse?" She merely grinned. "You wont. For the same reason that you kept your own cards with you until this very day." She was right on that, in his pocket was more than just The Puzzle. "This is how you learn, and how you fight." He took the cards, his deck, and inserted them all into the disk. "And this is how I deal with people I do not trust. If I defeat you, you will leave and never come back. You will not touch my father or mother again." She agreed to the terms. "Then it is settled. You will get the game you wanted." He allowed her to go first. "Mighty gallant of you, Nero. That rhymes with the theme of your deck, does it not? It is a pity that my name has no connections like those." She drew six cards. "Let me show you.." She normal summoned a strange monster, a Plant that had replaced its fruits with spiked Grenades. It was a level 1 monster called 'Evil Thorn(300/100)'. "A plant? A deck of plant monsters?" Her motif was becoming very clear.

Nero's LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 8000

"Evil Thorn. This card can be sacrificed to do some damage to you." With that warning, the Plant threw its explosive fruit at the other duelist, the needles hit him for 300 damage. "Ggh, that hurt." He had not dueled in a while, he could not recall if these feelings were natural with a dueldisk system. "Also." Yet as the first Evil Thorn withered away, two more sprouted from the grassy floor(300/100). "When one is sacrificed, two more take its place. But do not worry, they can not activate their effects like the first one just did." Then she activated a spell. "Seed of Deception. I can special summon a level 2 or lower Plant from my hand." She picked what looked like a pack of grass critters gone wild, and special summoned it next to the Thorns. "Nettles(1200/400). A tuner-type plant monster." Each of her monsters had been special summoned in defense mode, so she had plenty of shields to go around. "Now, I want to see what you will do. Nero." She was done with her turn. "It should be obvious, Madlyn. If you know me that well.."

Nero's LP: 7700

In his hand were three cards he could not use right now, and three that he could combine for his favorite move. "Polymerization!" He did a fusion summon, playing the fusion spell to merge two of his warriors. "I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Bladedge in my hand, to fusion summon Plasma Vice from the Fusion Deck!" The golden thunder warrior was the sum of Spark and Blade, E-Hero Plasma Vice(2600/2300). "This card can inflict piercing damage! And it attacks Nettles." He did not know what a Tuner was, but he did not like the sound of it. The Vice warrior stabbed the four colored weeds, even in defense mode a lot of damage points were transferred to Madlyn. "Extra deck." Yet she shrugged it off, and Nettles did not go down to his dismay. "Come again." Though confusion was his primary emotion at this point. "The fusion deck is now called the extra deck. Didn't you know?" Plasma Vice found out he had instead killed one of the Evil Thorns, but the damage she took did not reflect that.

Madlyns LP: 5800

"By the by, I can keep my Nettles alive by sacrificing another Plant on my field." She explained what just happened. "But I still got one left. So all I need now..." In her turn she normal summoned another plant, a level 4 monster made from moss. "is a Lord Poison(1500/1000). Now it is time for the fun part." She touched all three of her monster cards. "You use Fusions, and I find that adorable. However there is a new thing on the rise, and I will teach you what it is." She had 7 level stars on the field, so with the Tuner that allowed her to Synchro Summon a level 7 Synchro monster. "What are you going to do?" He had no idea what was coming. "To let you see the card I won yesterday. It will be my first time." She sounded downright giddy about it. "Come out!" The weed-tuner, poison lord and last thorn were sent to the grave. Their stars flew into the ground, creating a burst of red light behind the female duelist. "What in the world?" Behind her a dragon appeared, a black beast with crimson rose petals. "Synchro Monster: Black Rose Dragon!"

(To be Continued in Testament 019: Extra Deck VS Fusion Deck)

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Evil Thorn  
Nettles  
Lord of Poison  
Black Rose Dragon


	19. Extra Deck VS Fusion Deck

**New Testament 019: Extra Deck VS Fusion Deck**

"What?" Lydia talked into the phone as the plane had just landed at the private airport. The other plane was not there. "You're telling me they.." Jackson, Colin and Prospero were there too, wondering what she was so worried about. "Anything wrong?" The fortune teller asked. "Cant you tell?" Colin quipped. "It is nothing." She sneered. "All you need to know is that Marcus is expecting us. Let's go."

Nero's LP: 7700 Madlyns LP: 5800

"Black Rose Dragon, a Synchro Monster?" Nero was relatively to the concept, though he had heard of it before. He wondered how she got that card however, Synchros were not available in stores. "You tuned three monsters to summon that thing. But it is still weaker than my Fusion Monster." The Dragon (2400/1800) could not kill Plasma Viceman (2600/2300) in battle. However. "I am aware, but are you? This monster has an effect that triggers when it is Synchro summoned. I call it Black Rose Gale." Suddenly a violent storm of rose petals and sharp winds cut loose. "Gah!" He was pushed back by the force. "It destroys all cards on the field!" The damage done to the electric E-Hero was too severe, he collapsed to his wounds and shattered. The Black Dragon crumbled into the ground, it had harmed itself as well.

"You would go that far to destroy one monster?" He asked her. "I think I did..." She was done with her turn, and both fields were wide open. "Draw." He could use a strong monster right now, yet he drew a particular weak one. "_A Chrysalis? I can not use this wothout the right field." _Grumbling he placed the monster facedown instead. "That card though, who gave it to you?" He asked her, as he was almost starting to hope a friends hand had made that one. "Oh the dragon?" Alas his was a false hope, he had been in the dark about the other. "My teacher did, gave me new cards, a new task. His name is Marcus." His eyes widened with shock. "No. Not him." He whispered to himself. "I knew it, I was right not to trust you!" he shouted. "Why? Is he not your friend then? He wanted to find you and your Treasure.."

Yet Madlyn had not been brought up to date on Simmons' dark past either, which surprised Nero. "You do not know? Then I should tell you something else. You shouyld get out while you can, Madlyn. Marcus is not a kind man." He was dead serious. Still she laughed. "Ah! You can be funny, and still so heroic!" She drew her next card. "But I can not stop. I am having too much fun." She summoned another monster. "Tsk." It was a fire-type flower (500/1400). "Lonefire Blossom. Once a turn, it can tribute one plant to special summon another from the deck. It can even choose itself." She thus sacrificed the Lone Blossom, and searched her deck. "This one!" In its stead came a high-level Plant that looked more like a human female(2800/2600). "Princess of Camellias, Tytannial! Attack!." The woman extended her hand and sent a river of leaves at Nero's facedown monster. His facedown was Chrysalis Panthail(800/300), his death was quick and soundless. "Scary, isn't it? Such a strong.." The girl was about to gloat about her Lonefire-combo.

When she noticed her surroundings. "Oh my, look at all the eyes." They were dueling in a public place, naturally this drew some attention. "What are they doing?" Pedestrians and drivers alike, they all found the scene a little odd. "Too many. I want this to be a private show." She played a spell from her hand. "Hey, wait." Before Nero could protest, thorns exploded all over the two duelists. "Black Garden!" A dome of black spiked vines arose, a mass so thick no outside could see inside. "Now we can play unhindered." She smiled and ended her turn. "What does this card do?" He asked. "You will see." He did not like this one bit, though his mood was lifted by the next card he got. "Miracle Fusion!" He played the fusion spell for dead E-Heroes. "I remove Sparkman and Bladedge from my cemetery, to fusion summon a second Plasma Vice!" The second purple/golden elemental (2600/2300) came from the fusion/extra deck. And as soon as it came. "And now you know." The black thorns leaped into action, strangling Vice.

"His power.." The vines sapped half of its strength away (1300/2300). "Black Garden. When a monster is summoned, its attack is halved permanently. Following that." She licked her lips as one of the vines planted itself in the ground, budding a token-rose (800/800). "The controllers opponent gets a free level 2 token." Nero cringed. "But I did not summon it to attack." He discarded a card from his hand, to use Plasma Vice's effect. "I summoned it to destroy!" Plasma Vice could now destroy one card on the field, his energy went after Tytannial. "Naive, naive." The Princess suddenly killed the token next to her and hid inside her flower petals. "Tytannial can sacrifice an underling plant to destroy effects that target!" The energy was deflected and it was his E-Hero fusion that went down. "No. how.." He had nothing left to defend himself again. "I set a trap and end my turn." She glared. "Traps huh? Too bad I am not the frightened one.." She activated another spell from her hand, discarding a level 4 plant, Cactus Fighter, from her hand.

"Wonder Clover!" Tytannial shone with a newfound energy. "When I play this spell, a monster can attack twice during the battle phase!" She came out of her canopy and fired two green streams "Double direct attack!" Nero responded swifty. "The Necro Guardna in my grave, I remove it from play to negate your attack!" He removed the monster he discarded through Plasma Vice, and one of two attacks was stopped. However the second hit him dead on. "Ugh. My turn." He grew tired of this duel and wasted little time. "Elemental Hero Stratos!" He summoned the warrior of air (1800/400), adding E-Hero Neos to his hand with its effect. "Oh, another one to look cute in wrappings." Black Garden reacted immediately and entangled Stratos(900/400), making yet another Rose-Token(800/800) for the girl. "I do not care. I can kill that one at least!" Stratos charged forth, not letting the thorns get in its way, and cut down the red flower. Because it was in attack mode, she lost 100 LP. "Ah that tickled. I want more from you, Nero."

Madlyns LP: 5700 Nero's LP: 4900

"You thrive on this, do you?" He fumed. "It is a thrill, once I start I do not want to stop. And now I want a taste of you. Spell Card: Mark of the Rose." She removed one Evil Thorn in her cemetery. "I take control of one of your monsters." A rose-mark appeared on the forehead of the E-hero. "No!" He walked over to Madlyns side. "Now now, you have already been selfish enough. Not letting anyone have that Puzzle." She smirked. "What did you say?" He snapped at her. "I know why though. I will keep it a secret." Now that she had Stratos, she could hit him hard. "No, it is not enough. I will show you more." But instead she chose to summon a new monster, a level 1 creature made from roots(0/0). "Copy Plant. This card can copy the level of another plant on the field." Because she summoned a new monster, Black Garden trapped it, though no attack could be halved. "I choose the token I just made." A Rose flower sprouted on Nero's side now, because she summoned Copy Plant. "So it went from level 1 to level 2, why is...oh no."

She nodded. "Right as rain again. Copy Plant is also a Tuner. I wanted six levels on the field." So performed another Synchro Summon, removing her leveled up Tuner and the stolen Stratos. "Six-star Synchro: Queen of Thorns." Another female human/plant hybrid appeared(2200/1800). Even Synchros were affected by the Black field though(1100/1800). Now there were two Rose-tokens (800/800) on Nero's field, all in attack mode. "_Why is she summoning so many tokens when she could do more damage with direct attacks?" _He had little time to wonder, as she was already on the offense. The Princess caused one Rose to wither, while the Queen swallowed another whole with her Venus Flytrap claw. "Argh." A less damaging attack still hurt of course. "Did I hurt you?" She asked, excitedly. "No." He flipped his trap at this point. "You helped me, apprentice of Marcus. By killing a token you triggered Neo Signal!" He sent a signal into the sky, the letter N. "I can special summon any Neo-spacian from my deck!"

Nero's LP: 2600

From his deck came Neo-Spacian Grand Mole (900/300), instantly it was affected by the Garden (450/300). "Planning to send a monster back to my hand with that monster?" She was well aware of the powers that the Mole possessed, and she ended her turn. "Possibly. But I have a better plan. And you know." He drew a card. "You were right, I have been neglecting my friends, they have done a lot for me." He took a card from his hand. "Even Cable." And played the spell: Light Fusion. "I fuse two monsters! Grand Mole and the E-Hero Neos in my hand. An Earth-type and a Hero-type are needed for this fusion monster!" The two came together to form one new warrior, a Hero with rock armor and glowing aura. "Elemental Hero Gaia(2200/2600)." The Garden weakened it too (1100/2600), but he did not mind. "When this is summoned, I can steal half of the attack from your monster." He pointed at the Princess. "And she can not stop me, even though this effect targets. Because.. a Light Fused monster is immune to card effects this turn."

_Light Fusion, Normal Spell  
__Send, from your hand or side of the field to the graveyard, fusion material monsters that are listed on a warrior-type fusion monster card, and special summon that fusion monster from your extra deck. (This special summon is treated as a fusion summon). This cards effect and activation can not be negated.  
T__he special summoned monster cannot be affected by the effects of your opponent's monsters, spells, and traps this turn._

She gasped. "This card was made for me, as an opposite to one Jacob used, by Cable." He then drained half the attack of the Camellia Monster(1400/2600), and added it to his own monster(2500/2600). "Now. Disappear!" Gaia released a stream of rocks and lava, which burned Tytannial down to a crisp. "And that is not all, I activate Defusion from my hand!" He played the fusion splitter magic, returning Gaia to its material components: Grand Mole and E-Hero Neos(2500/2000). "More of them?" Madlyn was annoyed, Thorn Queen normally did 1000 damage to anyone who summoned a nonplant card. But only if they came from their hands, not from the grave or deck. "At least." But now she had up to four Red Flowers(800/800) on the field, and Neos(1250/2000) and Neo-spacian(450/300) were still weakened. "They attack too!" Neos killed one of the tokens, inflicting minor battle damage. Grand Mole meanwhile hit the Synchro Queen, sending her back to the extra deck, and himself to Nero's hand. "That was it. I hope you're satisfied."

Madlyns LP: 4150

"I am, a little." She drew. "Yet I am also sad. It all ends here." She snapped her fingers. "What?" And the black vine dome started breaking down. "Second effect of Black Garden, I can sacrifice it, and all plants on the field." Her three remaining Roses were losing their petals and slumped down. "To revive a monster from my cemetery with attack equal to the total strength of the dying plants." The three tokens all had 800 atk, mulitplied by three gave it attack equal to a certain monster. "Black Rose Dragon." Nero feared correctly. "Revive the Synchro!" From the heap of broken vines a dragon(2400/1800) emerged, spreading its crimson sings and roaring at the opponent. "Even so, it wont kill me in one hit, Madlyn." And next turn he could send it back to the extra deck with Grand Mole. "That confidence of yours, that is a nice expression. But I must erase it. I still have one card." She played a continuous spell, shaped like a spraying can. "Grass Fertilizer. If I do not normal summon this turn, I can special summon a Plant that died this duel."

She sprayed the grass with the spell, and a cactus sprouted. "Cactus Fighter(1900/400) It was the lv-4 plant she discarded through Wonder Clover. "It attacks Neos!" It then released a barrage of needles at the alien elemental, shattering its body. "What will that accomplish?" He wondered, and then he saw he had a new friend. "Cactus Fighter leaves a token behind, when it kills something. A Needle-token(500/500) for you.." Yet it was in defense mode, Black Rose could not take advantage of it. Or could it? "The Dragon has a second effect too. If a monster defends, Black Rose can switch it to attack mode, and drop its attack to zero." All she had to do was remove another plant from her graveyard, and then she could destroy his lifepoints. "This attack will finish me?" He was helpless, it could not be stopped. "You were cute, but in the end you could not overpower me. Pity." She removed another Evil Thorn, and vines came from underneath the leaves. "Rose Restriction." They were about to constrict the Needle-token. "Stop!"

Nero's LP: 1950

An outside voice distracted her. "Hey." A voice Nero recognized. "You are." He saw Cleo, and Christine, standing on the opposite side of the street. "You guys!" He expected them, least of all. "I prefer the term, you girls." Caine snipped. "Nero, what are you doing?" Rose was concerned with how much attention they were drawing. "Dueling in the middle of a park, apparently." They walked over to him. "Hey. Why did you stop us?" He asked them, his opponent felt the same way. "We do not have time for this, ya know. And wait a second." Christine glared at the girl in the green dress. "I know her." She blinked, because that feeling was one-directional. "Oh?" They had seen her at the show the other day. "What are you doing here? With him!?" She asked, adding a serious tone to her questions. "I believe." She responded and shut down the dueldisk, causing the dragon to fade away. "We are after the same thing." Cleo looked back at Nero. "You mean the puzzle?" He flinched, but said nothing. "Well, more than that." Madlyn added sheepishly. "Huh?"

"Marcus also wanted his fathers records." She finally admitted.

(To be Continued in Testament 020: What Comes Around)

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Gaia

-  
_Light Fusion_

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Lonefire Blossom  
Princess of Camellias, Tytannial  
Copy Plant  
Queen of Thorns  
Cactus Fighter

-  
Black Garden  
Wonder Clover  
Grass Fertilizer


	20. What Comes Around

**New Testament 020: What Comes Around**

"The records?" Nero looked at the girl, her presence getting more difficult by the minute. "Your father was an archeologist, correct? And he found parts of the Millenium Puzzle, correct?" He nodded, slowly. "Then he must have some records on it. Something that can be used to trace back to the source." Cleo was surprised to hear this. "Wait, how much did Marcus till her?" He asked Nero, yet Madlyn answered. "He told me enough. Everything I needed to know to get what he wanted to have." She smiled. "Then why duel Nero, instead of just asking?" Christine snapped at her. "Oh that? I just wanted a little fun with him, he looked so sad when I first saw him. He needed some fun." He shuddered upon hearing that. "Well now is not the time for games. Besides, a lot of people are looking at us. We should at the very least go somewhere else." The pedestrians were just too confused to act. "Very well. However." Madlyn gave Nero an intense glare. "Do not forget that you would have been beaten, if not for their interference.."

They started walking from the scene, though it was not clear yet which direction mattered. "Hey, come on. We need to go back to the plane. We were lucky enough to get the pilot to take us here, he wont be waiting for long" Caine pointed east. "But the records. If my dad still had them when I.." Nero trailed off. "When it happened. I must have taken it with me when I moved, I kept all our old stuff." He sighed, that sounded a little melodramatic. "My home is not too far from here. I had to live close to the hospital and." Cleo shook her head and raised her other hand. "Fine, fine, we will make a quick visit." She already regretted coming all the way here. "I do not suppose we can at least see the Puzzle, to know he really has it?" Madlyn inquired, with an innocent tone. "I think you have talked to enough people today, just be quiet and try to keep up." The goth turned her back to the flower girl. Nero did pretty much the same. "Fiesty." She then looked at the second female. "Your last name is Rose eh? I like that." Christine shivered too. "Let's just go."

"So I finally get to meet the boss in person eh?" Prospero could finally see it, the destination of all Items. Or at least he could see what was on top of it. "You are not planning to put me on TV, are you? Because I would be shocked to find out that all of this turned out to be a prank-show skit." He said, not even believing it himself. "No. You aren't being punked. And also, 'he' is not our boss." Colin spat. "Only hers." And pointed at Lydia. "Regardless he will be pleased to see you." She smirked in response. "I bet. The welcomes have been luke-warm so far." The seer yawned. "The schedule has only been brought into disarray due to 'his' involvement in another assignment. Though that did not concern us, in his eyes." Jackson referred to the Nero-debacle. Because of that they found Cable and William alone at the airport, as Cleo and Christine had taken the first once again, to visit Nero in Switzerland. "Well I will talk to him about it later." This left the other two behind with the chopper, which was now about to land on the film studio rooftop. "Quite.."

And they stormed right into his secret area, the guards did not intervene because they had his apprentice Lydia among their party. "Simmons." Cable was the first to send out his gentle greetings. His tone could not even hide the slightest bit of contempt. "Well, well, my guests have arrived." He sounded happy in return, especially at the sight of the newcomer carrying a Millenium Item. "Cut the chit-chat. You went behind our backs, Marcus." Jackson grumbled, apparently letting his spiteful Personality do the talking. "You sent another apprentice after Nero, while we were busy in other countries." He gestured angrily, as if he was about to slug him. "Calm down, whichever mind is speaking now. He had the best of intentions." Lydia intervened however. Stepping in between seemed to quell Doe's rage. "Though you hired another student to do so. You could have waited and sent me." She looked at her 'teacher'. "Sorry my dear. They did say time was of the essence, so I took the quickest step towards our ultimate goal, to protect our world."

His smile did not convince the others of course. "You could have at least warned us. How do you think Nero would feel if you sent a total stranger instead of an old friend?" William asked him. "He will understand, he knows how dangerous it all can get, and how fast one must act to prevent further calamities. Besides, Madlyn has a certain charm to her. She would not do anything to chase our boy away, eheh." At this point, the latest guest raised his hand. "Excuse me. But I need to know something, before we can proceed." Marcus finally turned to him. Until now Prospero had been more interested in his surroundings than the conversation, yet he could not keep quiet when the word 'danger' was dropped. "I assume your inquiry involves the rising threat that plagues our nation." He walked over to one of his computer and started typing. "This is what you need to know to be a part of the group, Prospero." He showed him the satellite feed of the quarantine zone. "Let me tell you what we know, about your 'treasure'."

Prospero received the entire tale. Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh and his Priests, needless to say he was a tad bedazzled "I always knew it came from Egypt, considering the Eye-symbol. But this is spectacular." He could not stop marveling at his own necklace goldmine. "I guess you see in the future, but the past is a blur to you." Colin laughed at his own joke, and he was the only one. "And where is it? The machine that allows you to cloud my senses? Your apprentice told me about your item-inhibitor when she beat me." He was still upset about that. "Oh pardon me. It was needed to gain your attention." He explained. "You need to a do a lot in the name of progress, dont you?" Cable sneered behind his back. "You would know, friend." Just then his beeper went off. "In any case.. Lydia will show you around, and you can tell them in return how you got your Millenium Item, and how your power works exactly." He walked away. "But first, the show must go on.. I am doing this for your sake too.." He took the elevator back up.

"Never mind him." Jackson said. "Tell us more about yourself." Everyone was focused on the seer now. "Well. I do not really think I can make you understand the experience. How it is for me, when I 'see' things." He took out his Millenium Tauk. "But ever since I got it, when I close my eyes, It will be as if time stops. The world around me however goes on, the future paths are shown to me." He closed his eyes here too. "However, it does not work all the time, like when my mind is troubled, or when there is external interference." Right now it did not work for him. "So, you make predictions based on what you see now, it is a short-term prophecy?" William said, and Prospero nodded. "Yes, and no. In rare occassions, the treasure will tell me something on its own. That was how I knew you were coming for me." Lydia had a question too, and she stepped in front of Carter. "Then tell us, how did you get it?" He saw that question coming without his powers. "Well. I always tell people I bought at an auction, but.." That was not really true.

The public at large remained unaware of the crisis for now. Nor did they know that there was a secret basement filled with unorthodox machines beneath these studio floors. They just came for another live broadcast of Simmons' duelist show, duelists who wanted to prove themselves and observes that merely liked watching the game. The usual gatherers were blissfully ignorant and the backstory behind ex-Tumaga member Marcus and his shady dealings. Unfortunately there was always a chance a visitor came for exactly that reason, for the fact that he knew what most did not. And that person just got out of his car. "Hmph." He had a ticket, like everyone else. He could get through quite easily, and registering was done in a second. "Duelist." He declared himself to be of the playing-category, so he was given a dueldisk for the show, and a number. If he was lucky he would be picked for the ring. "But I will not need this." Strangely though, he discarded his disk and walked on into the audience.

In spite of this looming threat, Marcus could only yawn as he arrived on the ground floor. There things were a lot less interesting for Simmons, no magical stories to listen too. He actually hated having to host these shows right now, but changing the schedule would get attention from the government. He did not want them to find out about the things he had hidden in the depths of his own film studio, things funded by his secret benefactor. So he had to fulfill his parole duties and make this area look innocent. "Good day gentlemen." He greeted his two co-judges as he sat down in his seat, the audience was moderately full and there were plenty of eager duelists. "Good day Marcus." His partners were not aware of his past crimes, nor was the anouncer. The only spies was the camera, and every human that watched its live feed. "Well, if we are ready." He could not have known, that todays episode would have a special interactive contribution. "Let us select today's players. Who will be the lucky contestant!"

"Marcus!" Yet a lone voice towered above the cries of the commoners. Not just because he stepped out into the ring first. "Sir, you need permission to.." Some of the guards tried to stop him, thinking it was just an over-anxious competitor. "Out of the way, I am not here for you." Yet he managed to send him against the wall with a simple push. "Hey!" Another tried to stop him, only to receive a hard jab in the gut. He doubled over in pain. "What the heck are you doing?" One of the judges screamed. "Hrm, it seems this is no ordinary guest." Marcus remained calm in the face of all this. He noticed odd things about the man; his age was far above those of the average candidates, and he seemed to have a well-trained body. "I am only here for you, Marcus Simmons. The rest of you have to go." He glared at every one, the guards, duelists and watchers. "You wish, what are you thinking, ruining it for all of us!" They were of course none too pleased. Though it was rather easy to shut them up, after the mystery man gave a demonstration.

A sudden shock rattled the entire studio, the waves affected even the deeper parts. "Now you see, why you need to leave?" The floor in front of him was now a small smouldering crater. "He blew it up?" A blast came right from his wrist. "I have enough firepower on me to blow this place to kingdom come. So, for the last time.." He aimed his hand at the audience. "Leave!" They did not need to hear that twice, they all started stampeding out the emergency exits. It was only when the crewmen made a move, that he spoke up. "Not you. You stay, and seal all exits!" He aimed straight at the judge trio. If they refused things would not look pretty. "Why are you doing this, how are you doing this?" They asked, while Simmons maintained his silence. "I told you. I came for him. The rest of you are only here to listen to what he has to say." By now the workers had closed the doors. "Good. Now I want you to keep filming, I want this to be displayed on live television as usual." Finally the target spoke. "Then what do you want, sir?"

He smiled grimly. "A confession." He took off his coat, revealing what was underneath. Army fatigues, a customized suit and a dueling disk. "Oh is that?" He was a man of the national guard, one of the troops that were installed to guard the quarantine zone. "Yes, you know what this is. This suit and this disk, they were designed by your infernal company. Based on your demon soldiers, a fusion of magic and machine!" He fired another shot from his disk, which destroyed one of the empty seats. For a second, the people thought they saw a monster striking that location. "Yes. A way to use these 'cards' as weapons. I have seen it with my own eyes before. You see I was one of the men at 'the doomsday location'." Only his enemy would know what that meant. "This is retribution for what happened back then! I am here to get you to confess for what your company did to the world, to tell everyone that the government has lied to them!" He shouted it out as loud as he could. "I will not let you walk unpunished, Marcus! Confess now, or.."

"What is all this ruckus?" Colin appeared. "You? Where did you come from?!" The soldier was quick to point at him. Of course he could now have expected the crewmen to also shut off the elevator to the unknown level. "Ehr..bath-room?" He was quick enough to not give that away. "Bit of a visitor problem, Simmons?" He laughed, not realizing how volatile the situation was. "You could say that, Sairve. I think this man is a disgruntled officer, looking for revenge in the wrong places." The attacker twitched. "Do not say that! You will not lie to cover yourself!" But he stopped yelling, when he noticed two things. One: this new kid was rather familiar with his hated enemy. Two: that face looked really familiar. "Now I see, it is you..." Colin blinked, he did not expect to be singled out again. "Me?" He just wanted to go back down and ignore this whole mess. "I remember you. Not by name, but a face is the same any year." He sounded upset at him too. "Did I... do something wrong?" He started to sweat. "You were there too, one of the seven heroes."

"And you.. I think I loathe you, as well.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 021: Full Metal Revenge)


	21. Full Metal Revenge

**New Testament 021: Full Metal Revenge**

"What was that?" In the lower levels of Marcus's studio, where the duelists were holding out, the efefcts of the topside blasts were finally heard. It echoed through the shafts. "Sounded like a bomb going off. That is not a part of the show right?" Prospero was the most concerned, he was not used to dealing with weird or dangerous situations. "It is not." Lydia walked over to the main computer. "I am gonna check the Camera feed, see whats going on.." Just then the doors behind them were sealed. "What the?" Jackson tried to open them by force. "Why are we locked in?" It did not work. "For good reason. Look at this." She turned on the main screen which showed the scene. A dueling soldier standing across a confused Colin. "So that was where he went, when he said he went to look for the bath-room. We have to help him!" William looked at the controls. "Which one of these open the doors?" He asked Lydia. "You don't get it, do you? This is an emergency procedure, we can not leave. If we do, this place could be revealed to the whole world."

"I know you?" Colin looked again. To him it did not matter what was spoken, all soldiers looked the same to him. "You do. I was one of the survivors of the assault against that 'thing'. The monster Tum'aga released." He glared at Marcus again. "He helped, I know he did. But you.. you are in the way." He looked at his own arm. "However you can help me, boy. You can help Simmons too if you wish." He pointed the device at the seer. "Duel me, in the way your kind does. Put his life on the line, the same way you put ours." Sairve grumbled. "I do not have a disk with me." He did not want to fight for the sake of that bastard up there. "Take one of the contestants, they dropped many." The soldier replied. "Damnit, why do you want this?" He moved for the closet disk. "To show you what this man does for a living, to show everyone that watches this show of his. You see, what I hold in my hands is his product: both deck and machine." Colin finally put the tool on his wrist and inserted the deck. "Tsk. Then, I will face you. As you are making me curious."

Colins LP: 8000 Soldiers LP: 8000

"However." The soldier started by drawing six cards. "None of you move or touch the cameras, this will be the match England sees. Do not tempt fate." He placed two cards facedown, one of them a monster. "I see. Those craters.." Colin finally noticed the damage he had done. "Your work, yet I do not see grenades on that suit of yours." He drew his cards as well. "I wonder though, what type of deck you run." He summoned the Hunted Agent(2200/0) in attack mode, its effect allowed the opponent to special summon a monster from their hand as well. "Show me." And the opponent complied, he summoned a machine-like monster from his hand, a Reflect Bounder(1700/1000). "Ah the card that reflects all attacks. No sense in attacking that." Marcus smirked. "Yes thanks for the tip. But I can do this alone, thanks." The Agent drew his gun. "I will attack that facedown card!" The pistol shot straight through a strange sphere with claws(1400/1400). "Oh. I get it, you like explosives..." What was killed was the Bomb, Blaster Sphere.

"..." It did not die, instead it attached itself to the Hunted. "Oh no. Next turn it will go off and inflict 2200 damage to him." One of the other judges gasped. "I am not in the mood for blowing stuff up. So let me get rid of this. I play two spell cards: Level Award, first." The stars on the Agent card started glowing. "I can change the level of 1 monster on the field, from 1 to 8. I pick the highest!" His monster was now eight stars. "Next, Advance Draw: I can sacrifice one level eight monster, to draw two new cards." And his own Hunter was just right for it. "Farewell to him and your bomb, hello two new cards." The soldier just stared at him. "You of course know some sound strategies, for this game, But correct me if I am wrong, son." He looked at the empty field. "Now you are wide open, for an attack right?" Sairve said nothing, yet his silence told the man enough. "Good. Now I will demonstrate, the power of this disk." He drew his next card. "And also, the true theme that I chose for my revenge. I shall tribute this machine in front of me."

_Level Award, Normal Spell  
__Change the Level of 1 monster on the field to any number of your choice between 0 and 8._

Reflect Bounder left, in its stead came another machine. "Summon Reactor * AI." It looked like a plane-robot(2000/1400) with turrets on it. "Uh oh." Those turrets took aim at Colin. "Direct attack." And he received a hail of bullets. "Gah!" And to his shock, they stung as if they were real, and left visible holes in the floor as well. "You, shot me!" Yet when he inspected again, he saw no wounds, no tears in his clothes. "Now you know the horror of this disk." He again looked at its inventor. "Marcus produced these for the army, for unknown reasons. This device combines the technological the with arcane." Even he was not sure on the specifics. "When it hits matter, it can create small explosions using the energy built up in the holograms. But when it reaches organic matter, it strikes the senses instead. The energy releases into the nerves and stimulates pain according to the shape of the images." Just now it imitated the pain of bullets. "Using this disk and this deck, I have become the perfect dueling soldier. Right Marcus?"

Colins LP: 6000

"Gah." He felt somewhat better, good enough to continue. "Faced worse." He drew again. "I summon a monster, Beastking Barbaros(1900/1200)." However as the beast appeared, the Reactor 'reacted'. "What?"

Without warning, its propellors started revolving. A gust of wind blew against him, taking 800 of his LP away. "Reactor machines respond to their names. When you 'summon' something, It does effect damage to the summoner. But only the first time is counted." The seer was glad to hear the last part at least. "Good. Then I will kill it now. Star Level Shuffle!" Another spell was used, this one switched a monster on the field with one in the grave, if they had the same level. "I send Barbaros away, and I.. pick it back again!" Barbaros was instantly revived, only now it regained some power (3000/1200). "Impressive. Barbaros as a level 8 monster can be normal summoned without tributes, in which case its normal attack is reduced. Yet he avoided that by summoning him twice." And Barbaros roared as it lunged towards AI.

Colins LP: 5200

"Naïve!" Yet the propellors released another windburst, which pushed his beast back. "Hey!" His attack was negated. "There is another effect, you missed it. Summon Reactor can negate the first attack during a turn as well, if a monster was summoned that turn." So he had failed to destroy the reactor. "Damn it, I set a trap end my turn." The soldier nodded and drew. "But that is a lot of power for a kid. Perhaps too much." He selected one monster in his hand. "Dive Bomb, I discard this." From above a claw appeared, holding a bomb. "Uh oh." The bomb was dropped on the Beastking, sending smoke everywhere. "What did it do?" Colin coughed. When it cleared he saw that Barbaros was weaker again (1200/3000). But so was the Reactor(1400/2000). "That diving bomb switched their attack and defense values?"

_Dive Bomb, 1/0/0 Dark/Machine  
__Send this card from your hand to the graveyard. Switch the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field until the end phase of this turn.  
__If a monster is destroyed by battle while this effect is active, all monsters affected by this effect have their ATK and DEF return to normal._

"And now I will strike with another creation of that man. I normal summon Black Salvo." A black bomb(100/1100) appeared on the field. "When normal summoned, his tuner monster will revive one lv4-dark machine." The Bomb threw several smaller bombs at the ground, which exploded and brought Blast Sphere back to life. "Like that thing. Wait... Tuner monster?" The soldier nodded. "Yes, now it is time for a Synchro summon, for a level 7 monster!" He tuned the Bomber with the Sphere, level 3 with level 4. "Dark Strike Fighter, to me!" From the extra deck came another plane-like machine, a redbrown bomber-plane machine (2600/1800). "It attacks!" The Synchro extended its hand towards Barbaros. "No I do not want to experience another round of specialdiskfun. Negate Attack!" Colin flipped his counter trap, to end the battle phase and stopping the Striker "Then I will strike with effect damage, I tribute Summon Reactor!" The seer gasped, AI went down in flames. And those flames came straight at him. "Gaaaah!!!"

Colins LP: 4200

"Dark Strike Fighter sacrifices a monster on the field, and burns the enemy for 200 times the level of that monster." He explained, so it did 1000 damage for the Reactors five levels. "Grrr. Now you are making me mad, and I still do not get what I have to do with all of this." His turn came again, and he immediately entered his battle phase. "Destroy the Synchro!" Barbaros raised his own claws against the Synchro. "You shall not reach me." Surprisingly, he flipped his own Negate Attack to block the Beastking. "And I see your memory needs a jolt, boy. Unlike you I still recall the finest details of 'doomsday'."

"My name is Private Conroy, enlisted in the US Royal Marines." He did a formal salute as he said this. "My fleet was sent to deal with the foreighn threat, the one you called 'Orichalcos'. But.." His hand trembled and he closed it into a fist. "Many lives were taken, including my entire squad." He suddenly pointed at Colin. "And you..I know your face. Not just because you were one of the seven that calls himself the hero of that day, not just because for some reason the monster was brought down your way. The way that cheapened all deaths and removed our purpose!" He referred to the card game itself, pounding his disk. "But you, I had to guard you, all of you. Stand on the sidelines, stay on the beach. I could have died along with my comrades, but you got in the way!" And now he knew. "That is what this is all about? You're sad because you did not get to go down fighting?" That did not sound like something Sairve would do. "That is just a part of it. I had to keep so much bottled up. But I feel the whole world should know why my friends died!"

Unexpectedly he released another energy blast from the disk, which destroyed another seat. "Now quit stalling, my demonstration will not end until I finish you." It was not his turn yet. "Fine fine, you want some fun? Here!" He tributed Barbaros for the level 7 card: Fog King(0/0). It could be normal summoned with 1 or no tributes. "This monster inherits the attack of its tributes(3000/0), and it also prevents the opponent from tributing monsters!" The misty swordman thus blocked Dark Strike Fighters burning powers. "Tsk. You win time, but nothing will be able to use it. The more we wait, the more the world sees." He glared at the cameras. "My turn!" In his turn he summoned a new machine, a red dragonlike bomber. "Spell Reactor * AID(1200/900)" Yet he could not attack or use any effects. "I switch the Synchro Bomber to defense mode, and I set another trap." His turn was over. "Let me guess. The first spell I use in my turn, your Reactor will burn me for 800 damage, right?" He got no answer, but he had no spells in his hand anyway.

"I summon a machine too now. The Calculator." It was a small monster, but something happened as it started typing in numbers on its body. "It will calculate the number of stars on my field, and give itself 300 points for each of them. By now you will see that my deck uses levels as well." Besides its own pair, Fog King added seven to the mix, so the endsum was nine(2700/0). "Fog King cut down the Strike Fighter!" The mist knight unsheathed its royal blade and split the Synchro in half. "Calculator, attack the Reactor!" And the mathmachine sent electricity to fry AID. "Trap card!" Conroy responded, but an explosion still ocurred. "Too late?" One of the crewmen thought the trap did not work. "No, there is something in the smog." From theblast came the Spell Reactor, unscathed. "Fake Explosion: when you attack one of my monsters, I can keep it on the field." Though his lifepoints did go down, at last. "And there is a second bonus. This trap also special summons a Summon Reactor from the hand or cemetery."

Conroy's LP: 6500

So the one he tributed earlier, came back on the studio floors. "And now. My turn, I normal summon: Trap Reactor RR." A Third Reactor(800/1800) showed itself, this one resembling a green WW2 bomber. "Traps too now?" That did not sound good. Even though both were weaker then Fog King and the Calculator. "Something is up, right? Three monsters that fit each other perfectly, like certaoin other combos." Conroy smiled briefly. "Correct. When RR and AID are on the field, the third and final effect of AI ignites!" The three machines all flew up to the ceiling, joining together in a bright light. "Sending itself and those two to the grave, you will get a new monster, you can spell it out: AIRRAID!" And the monstrocity descended, the combination of all three Reactors, a plane-machine built like a fortress, armed like a tank(3000/2500).

"Giant Bomber, AIRRAID. It incorporates the powers of the Reactors, but also.." A hidden compartment opened, revealing large missile bombs inside. "Effect activate: Death Drop. I discard a card from my hand to destroy one card on the field!" He discarded a Cannon Soldier, and the Air Raider released its explosives. "Oh crap." Fog King was the target, it went down in a blaze. "Without those stars of his." Meanwhile Calculator powered down again (600/0). "This is it, boy. This monster seals your fate, and the fate of Marcus as well." He gave the accursed man one final look. "I will make you confess, and then I will take your life along with my own. I will join my brethren in the next world, and you will finally face your true hell. Prepare yourself, Marcus Simmons!" The soldier shouted at him. "Heh." Who could only chuckle.

(To be Continued in New Testament 022: My Condolences)

**Cards used by Private Conroy  
**Reflect Bounder  
Blast Sphere  
Summon Reactor * AI  
_Dive Bomb (+)  
_Black Salvo  
Dark Strike Fighter  
Spell Reactor * AID  
Trap Reactor * RR  
Giant Bomber * AIRRAID

-  
Negate Attack  
Fake Explosion

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**_Level Award (++)  
_Advance Draw

_(+) Based on the card used by Bommer in YGO 5D  
__(++) Based on the spell used by Tenma in YGO R_

_Editors Note: Yes I used AIRRAID instead of SKYFIRE, because it just sounds better to me_


	22. My Condolences

**New Testament 022: My Condolences**

"So we got what we wanted, can you go now?" Nero asked impatiently. He disliked it that his fathers stuff was searched through, even though his friends were doing it. "Yes, we got what we wanted. Relax." Cleo held a file in her hand. "Records of your dads archeological-related expenses and trips for the last few years." It was easy to understand why, the records could tell where the Puzzle and its master were buried. "Then we shall return to the plane." Madlyn alone was not allowed to join in on the search, nobody quite trusted her enough yet. "You could stay here, if you gave that puzzle to us." The ladies offered, but he shook his head. "No, I made up my mind, I am coming too. I should not have ignored this for so long." The others smiled. "Good. Then I will call the Teacher." The flower girl picked up the phone Marcus had given her and tried to open a link. "Huh, this is interesting." Yet all she received was static, her boss was not available. "What is it? No answers?" This did not sound promising. "Even odder.. dead line."

Colins LP: 4200 Conroy's LP: 6500

"Bring me to justice? You lack faith in this country's fine court?" Marcus sneered at the man below him, the soldier who threatened to blow him up to exact his revenge. "I do! You cheated your way out, allthough I do not know how." The cheat was in fact the mysterious benefactor that payed Simmons all the way into this show, yet he would not fess up to that secret either. "This demonstration is dragging, boy. Let us finish it." He pointed at the Calculator monster(600/0) left wide open in attack mode. "AIRRAID(3000/2500)! Fire the missiles!!" Once again the underside-compartment opened, and this time missiles were launched. "At least it is not a dire.. gah!" Once they hit his machine, shrapnel and splinters hit his body at the same time. "Even the shards from holograms produce pain energy?" He was truly fighting the ultimate dueling weapon. "Sure you did not make this?" He was aasking Marcus too now, who still refused to respond. "Fine. Be that way. It is my turn." He drew another card, it was his trademark card: Dora of Fate.

Colins LP: 1800

"And now I set a trap card or two." He first took another trap from his hand and placed it down. "I am not in the mood for traps, kiddo!" That was when the turrets on the Giant Bomber took aim. "Hey?" The unloaded their ammo on his facedown card: Trap Synchronization. "Sharp Shooting: AIRRAIDs Reactor-inherited effect. Once during your turn, I can destroy a card as soon as it is set or summoned. And the controller of that card loses 800 LP!" Stray bullets pierced his shoulder, or rather the energy of their holograms did. "Damn, I am not safe anywhere." He placed his second trap down. "But at least this effect of yours works only once, like your Reactor Monsters." He also summoned something, a warrior-monster. "Zero Gardna." It was a very weak and tiny thing, as its name implied its stats were at the absolute lowest (0/0). "Is this your idea of resistance, or do you want to end this as much as I do?" Conroy realized he did not even need to destroy this monster with a card effect, he could just attack it to win. "Figure it out. End turn."

Colins LP: 1000

"Draw." The soldier looked at his new card, the only one in his hand right now. "..." He could use it to destroy Colins other trap, yet he could sense his opponent lacked a certain emotion. "You do not plan to lose, do you? Yet you do not fear me." So he waited. "Yeah.... I sacrifice Zero Gardna." The little warrior suddenly tossed his heavy load, a big metallic zero into the air. It blew up and formed a shield of dust around Sairve. "I can tribute this monster to negate all damage I receive during a turn." Even if it was his opponents turn. "I see, and your trap. It is something you would chain to my Death Drop effect, I assume?" He did not say anything, though his hand was ready to flip at a moments notice. "Very well. I set a card." He ended his turn. "Good. Now let me ask you something. Before I play this trap of mine, I want to know: why do you think I was planning to give up?" Conroy expected that question. "I saw the expression in your eyes, heard it in your voice. Kid, you hate this man almost as much as I do, don't you?"

"I do. I dislike him, I even fought against him once.." Simmons got annoyed now, he realized Colin could just as easily explain his crimes to the world. "However." He finally flipped the Dora of Fate card. "What you are doing is still wrong. As much as I hate that guy, I do not want to see him dead. That would be.. insulting. You have gone to far off the end, so that is why I want to win. Your hate is different from mine." Dora of Fate targeted the Giant Bomber. It was an 8-star monster card, so the next turn the soldier would lose 8 times 500 LP, if his adversary could summon a level-7 monster. "My turn! I normal summon Fusilier Dragon, the Dual Mode Beast!" And that he could manage, he simply special normal summoned the level 7 cannon dragon, by halving its attack and defense (1400/1000). "Insulting?!" Because he normal summoned something, the Air Raider's Sharp Shooters were triggered. "You dare to imply that this man deserves less than death?" Fusilier was shot to pieces, and Colin lost 800 LP. "I disagree!" However, while Sairve was shredded by virtual bullets again, the soldier got hit by the Dora damage, he had lost 4000 LP in one hit. "Heh. You do that, but you will still take that damage."

Colins LP: 200 Conroy's LP: 2500

Because he still summoned the level 7 monster he needed, even if it died in the very next instant. "You.." He was not too happy. "But you can not win, boy! Your hate can not beat mine, and your deck can not defeat this weaponized behemoth, ahah. It is foolish to even try!" He laughed maniacally. "Well, everyone always calls me a fool." He shrugged and used the last card in his hand. "Maybe I am. But here is a twist: I can also succeed. I summon Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür!" Out of nowhere, the lion king appeared. Only now it was decked out in gold and red steel (3800/1200). "When did he get a chance to summon that?" A judge asked. "That monster, it can be special summoned by removing a machine and a beastwarrior in the grave from play." The other replied. "That is right, I removed Fusilier and the regular Barbaros. And now.." Barbaros raised its recently acquired blade-fist. "Die, Raider of Air!" Steel cut through steel, AIRRAID's wings were cut off and it crashed into the stands, leaving another crater as it exploded. "No.."

Conroy's LP: 2500

"But he did not lose LP?" They noted as the turn switched back to Conroy. "That is because Barbaros Ur, while strong, can not inflict lifepoint damage." Meaning Colin was still far away from finishing the enemy himself. "Unacceptable. This is.." Angrily he drew another card. "Unacceptable!" He placed that one facedown too, and in his endphase he flipped the trap right next to it. "Ultimate Mine!" He growled. A spiked one-eyed mine (0/0) floated to the platform. "A Mine?" That never could be good news. "When you destroy a mine-token, you lose 800 LP. Attacking it would be selfdestructive." As he had only 25 % of that amount left. "Even if you do not destroy it, next turn I will. The token shall attack your Machine Beast, and end you!" If he slammed it into Ür, he would not lose any life due to the Beastkings restrictions. "I win, boy!" And even if that failed, his other trap was Full Salvo, the missile launcher. Next turn he could do 200 damage to Sairve for every card he discarded from his hand. "You will not get in my way!"

_Ultimate Mine, Normal Trap  
__Activate only during your end phase. Special summon 1 'Ultimate Mine-token' (10/0/0 Fiend/dark).  
__When an 'Ultimate Mine token' is removed from the field, inflict 800 damage to your opponent._

"Too late, for that." Sairve drew his final card for the game. "Hey Marcus." And turned his attention back to the 'teacher'. "Tell me something about these monsters you made. The Synchro cards, can they be revived once properly summoned?" The soldier flinched. "What? Why are you asking him that?" Colin finally smirked and showed the spell in between his fingers. "Monster Reborn. This card revives any monster in any graveyard." Though only if it could be special summoned to begin with. "That card.." It had been banned from legal play for a while, but the banlist had undergone some changes recently. And this was hardly a legal match. "As for your question, my answer will be the one you desire: Yes they can." The seer acknowledged it and placed the card on his field. "I use this magic to revive the dead from your cemetery!" An energy line shot out of Conroy's dueldisk, and the image of Dark Dive Bomber(2600/1800) was now coming from Colins dueldisk. "You stole my weapon? How dare you, you little runt!"

"Anything is fair in war, is that not what they say? In any case, you no longer have anything to say that will stop me." He realized he could not kill the Ultimate Mine in battle, however there was another way to end the duel right now. "His effect, the one you showed me before." He could instead sacrifice monsters under his command, and inflict effect damage. "If I tribute Barbaros Ür, that will be 200 damage for eight stars." The Machine-beast was launched straight at the opponent, the flames dropped his LP by more than half. "1600 down. 900 points to go. And I can also sacrifice the Synchro itself. Which will do 1400 damage." He was about to follow up on his threat. "No. You can not.. can not take this away from me. You have not the right!" The soldier shouted, yet he was hit by the flames anyway, fire from his own army. "Hgk."

Conroy's LP: 0

In that instant, the marine felt a taste of his own medicine, as his dueldisk sent pain energy his own way. "Gaaah!!!" And after that, the device shorted out, falling from his wrist. "Whoa, guess he will not be making any more craters any time soon." That was convenient enough. It was actually built to do that, Marcus made it so that these army-disks would punish the weak or tactless. He believed in a trial-and-error learning. ".." Of course, he was still going to deny ever having funded such technology, so for now he could only enjoy the show in silence. "Daaaaamn you!" Unfortunately this burst of pain did not last too long, and Conroy recovered quickly. "I will get that confession from you, this outcome changes nothing!" Even if he lacked the weapon to threaten the entire room, he would not put aside his anger. "I will get it by force!" He suddenly leapt away from the platform, and made it at the judge's table. The other two immediately dahsed off to the side, while Simmons was seemingly backed into a corner. "Now Talk!"

But it was a futile gesture, because he no longer had anything to keep away the bodyguards. "Get him!" In a heartbeat they were upon the trespasser, tackling him to the ground. "No!" He was restrained at last. "It seems you forgot to mind your surroundings, private." During the game, the guards he had knocked out were slowly getting back up again. "You think you stalled me?" He growled at him as he was raised from the ground. "The entire country saw this, they all heard my words. Even if I did not prove my viewpoint, or get a confession from you: they will know what one man thinks. There will be rumors, some will know I have spoken the truth. You can not keep hiding, the secret is out!" He laughed again. "My my." Simmons on the other hand, just shook his head. "You truly are a sad sad man. I am sorry for the loss of your regiment, but I can no longer tolerate your accusations." He got up, brushing off his coat. "So let me come out and dispel that illusion of yours: you accomplished nothing, soldier."

"!?" He could not believe what he just heard. "Did I stutter? I said: you accomplished nothing by doing this. All you managed to do was putting fear in my colleages here. Yet they all see you for what you really are, a terrorist, a marine gone rogue." He pointed at the cameras. "And the world outside saw nothing. They will never see these recordings." The crewmen nodded, they took out the tapes and smashed them immediately. "You lie, this was broadcast live throughout.." Conroy stammered, and was not allowed to finish. "No, you are wrong, today's show stopped being shown the second you entered this hall, the live feed was cut and you never noticed." And now the man was horrified, he saw the TV channel as the UK had seen it. The duel show had been replaced with stock footage of a nice boat in a lake. "When was this you ask? Well you will never know." In truth it had been disconnected since this morning, by special request. Because he expected a visitor like this, ever since the troops at the quarantine zone gave him 'the look'.

"Take him away." And so it was that Conroy was rushed out of the studio, off to the prison transport. "There will be more, Simmons, victims will find out about you, and come after you!" Those were his last words, they echoed throughout the hall. "This was some day." The anouncer sighed. "Yes it was. I suppose this series will be put on hiatus for the time being." The judge shrugged. "The crowd will not come back." Simmons ignored the crew and walked over to the backstage. "Hey, are you not forgetting something?" But before he could open the door to the basement, and let his friends out, Colin spoke up from behind. "No, I do not think so. I do not believe you would want to be thanked by a person like me." He grinned. "Hmph. You are supposing correctly. By the way if something funny happens to that guy because of you.. One more mistake is all it will take me, and my friends, to see things like 'he' did. So do not make me regret what I did for you, Marcus." He spat. "Oh, don't you fret. I would not touch that man."

"So let us rejoin the circle, eh?"

(To be Continued in Testament 023: What's on your Mind)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Zero Gardna  
Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür

-  
Monster Reborn

**New Cards used by Private Conroy  
**_Ultimate Mine (+)  
_Full Salvo

_(+) Based on the trap used by Bommer in YGO 5D Season 1_


	23. My Mind to your Mind

**New Testament 023: My Mind to your Mind**

Cleo, Madlyn, Christine and Nero finally arrived at the film studio. And they were in for a surprise. "What the heck happened here?" This was the same place the girls visited yesterday, yet it looked like someone had given it a make over in the span of ten hours. "I know the show is a stupid idea, but that does not mean they should cancel it with brute force and explosions." Whatever had gone on, the endresults included large craters, empty seats and a lot more officers guarding the place. "Show?" This was Nero's first visit, he had never heard of this show before. "Yeah you don't need to ask. I do not think it will be on the air after this anyway." Caine was new here too, yet she was unfortunate enough to accidentily catch sight of the program while zapping. It never left her memory afterwards. "But where is everybody? Are they down below again?" Rose meanwhile was more concerned about the others, and she did not know how to get to the secret level. "We will find out soon, just follow me." But Madlyn was with them, so...

"And here we are." As one of Simmons' apprentices, she had the clearance everyone needed. "Guys!" The four duelists arrived and were happy to see that noone was injured. "Hey hey, you got him!" Colin, Will and Cable were excited as well. "The gang is all here." But it was Marcus who extended his hand first, approaching Nero up close. "Not now." Though the gesture was brushed away, he was not in the mood. "Nero? Is something wrong?!" William asked. "And isn't that.." He also now noticed the new girl with the long hair, the same one from yesterday. "Hello, my name is Madlyn. Pleased to meet you." She smiled warmly. "Yeah, she was the ehrm.. escort." Cleo coughed. "My new student yes." Simmons chuckled as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, new student.." Lydia, the old student, did not sound too happy. "We can talk about that later." The teacher quickly said, trying to avert the glares from both her and Fraser. "First I wanted everyone to meet our latest acquisition, and our new friend. Prospero the Magnificent!"

"That is 'Prospero the Infallible'" A voice came from another section of the basement. "The seer? He is the guy with the Tauk?" Right now he stood in a cubical room with white walls, next to the main computer room. "Tauk? _The_ Tauk?" Nero knew only one which could be important. "Right here." The fortune teller showed the necklace, going as far as kissing it. "Yes, its an heirloom he says." Colin scoffed. "And we put him in the testing room to see how good that thing is, in and outside a duel." Lydia smirked. He had a dueldisk on his arm, and opposite of him was a CPU opponent. "The tauk has the power of foresight, doesn't it? Sounds handy." Now this, Cleo could find interesting. "Yes well, do not forget the agreement." Prospero spoke to Marcus. "I did not, it is already in place. The new deckstyle is yours to use." He turned aside to his two students. "But his old deck is now in the computers database." They could all watch how well that went. "The computer will store all data, in the mean time you can ask me questions."

CPU's LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000

"Here we start then." The seer drew six cards, the CPU created images of five cards. "So many new monsters, I will summon this one!" He called out a monster, one nobody had seen before. "What is..that?" It looked like a cyborg, wearing a green uniform while riding a hovering tank(1400/800). "Is he.. saluting to the Fuhrer?" They had no idea what it was supposed to be: Machine or Warrior. "This.. is a Psychic." Simmons explained. "Psychic. Is that a new category, like Tuners??" The teacher shook his head again. "Nope, a new class, like machines. I made it just for our new friend here." Everyone was stunned. "You made an entirely new class when nobody has done that in years? How is it supported? Does it work outside its community?" Cable almost felt insulted. "Ahem, I am trying to duel here." Prospero rasped. "Oh? He is gonna do it?" Lydia noticed the change in his behaviour again, his eyes closed and his body relaxed. "...." He took a deep breath, and looked back to the field. "There.. now I have seen it all. And I will win."

He placed a trap and ended his turn. "Oho? Can you then also see what is in his hand?" Colin dared him, as the CPU drew a card. "Ehr, thats a different Millenium Item power, is it not?" Christine whispered. "Ssssh, he does not know that." Yet Prospero took the challenge. "I see all: In his hand are Jinzo Lord, Drillago, Mystic Tomato, Book of Eclipse, Card Defense and Solemn Judgment." A quick visual check from outside the testing room was enough to prove him right. "How did he.. wait a second." Yet some also saw what trap he had facedown. "Flip that card, will you?" Lydia sighed. "As you wish." He revealed the trap, Mind Haxorz. A card that allowed the duelist to see the opponents hands, for a measly 500 LP. "You just used that trap, didnt you? You foresaw what it would show you." Meaning he could not read minds at all, the CPU did not even have a mind. "Caught me. So which one of you two card designers gave this trap its name huh?" He countered the interrogation, and both Fraser and Simmons grumbled. "A fan submitted that name."

Prospero's LP: 7500

The CPU did not wait any longer, it sent Drillago(1600/1100) from its hand to the field, and ordered it to attack the Psychic. "I knew he would fall for it." But that triggered the special ability of the Commander. "I pay 500 lifepoints!" Suddenly, the attackpoints of the drilling machine shot down(1100/1100). "You learn fast: Psychic Commander can pay up to 500 LP to weaken those he does combat with." The Psychic fired a countershot from his barrel which reduced Drillago to scraps. The computer placed a trap and ended its turn. "It gets better, it is also a Tuner." Prospero laughed. "Oh great, he even made Synchro Psychics."

Prospero's LP: 7000 CPU's LP: 7700

"Synchro Summon!" He normal summoned another level 2 monster, and tuned it with the Commander who was level 3. The two formed a LV-5 monster, Magical Android (2400/1700) the cyborg woman. "This one adapts fast." Carter was impressed. "Direct attack." The female psychic aimed both her blades at the AI unit. Of course it responded with its trap: Card Defense. A trap that would block his attack at the cost of a discard. "Did he not see that coming?" Madlyn wondered. "He must have a plan, or he had no way around it." The fortune teller nodded. "There was indeed no way, and also." The second effect of Card Defense allowed the enemy to draw from their deck. "He just added Future Fusion to his hand. I do believe he will now use the Jinzo Returner-Jinzo-Future Fusion combo on me." He shrugged, it did not matter to him apparently. "Now I also understand the theme of Psychics, lifepoint control." He said, as Magical Androids effect activated in the endphase, giving him back 600 LP for every Psychic he controlled.

Prospero's LP: 7600

_Card Defense, Normal Trap  
__Activate only when your opponent declares an attack, discard 1 card to negate the attack. Draw 1 card._

Meanwhile, Nero and Jackson had gone to the side to discuss some things away from Simmons. Alas, their privacy was shortlasting. "Gentleman, conversing without your friends? What could it be about?" Nero had just about enough of this. "I am talking about 'why the hell are we working with you?' Because Jack told me what happened just an hour ago: about that soldier who wanted revenge." Marcus's smile disappeared. "That is water under the bridge, kid. Tum'aga is dead, I can assure you that." Not satisfied, Jacobus showed both the Millenium Puzzle and some files to Marcus. "You wanted these, didnt you? You sent your flunky to get it for you. You think you can steal it from me? From us!?" He started shouting, yet the Teacher was not backing down. "That depends, Nero. Does it belong to you..truly?"

Due to all the yelling, some people started shifting their focus from the test duel to the scene. Not everyone though, Lydia and Colin were enjoying it too much. Prospero getting beat around that is. "Guess you can not replace one android with another." Just a round ago, the machine had used Future Fusion to kill all Jinzo's(2400/1600) in its deck, and revive them through the Jinzo Returners. Then it sacrificed one Jinzo for Jinzo Lord(2600/1700), and all three psychic shockers unloaded their energy on the female android and her master. He lost 5000 LP in one turn. "Now I know what my opponents feel like." He quipped. But it got worse, in the endphase the CPu used the spell Book of Eclipse to flip all its machines facedown. "Ah. Now they will not destroy themselves, which is the normal downside to reviving a Jinzo through Jinzo Returner." And each had more defense than the strongest monster in the psychics hand. "No problem." It was his turn now, and he already knew what he would draw. "Three turns left, then it ends."

Prospero's LP: 2600

"Krebons." He summoned another Psychic, one that looked even goofier than the Commander. It was like a cyberspace jester that never stopped dancing(1200/400). "End turn." He said. "Huh, that is it, one weakling? I know his traps are sealed, but still.." The two did not expect that, at this rate his LP would be trampled into nothing. "Wait and see, disbelievers." Naturally the opponent used its turn to flip all the machines back up and ordered a triple attack. The Lord struck first, firing psychic energy at the Psychic. "This outcome is.. denied!" But then something happened, Krebons created a portal from floating 1's and 0's, a binary barrier that deflected the energy. And it repeated this move against the other Jinzo's. "Krebons has a special effect as well, all Psychics have. He can negate an attack if I pay 800 LP." He had payed 800 LP thrice to prevent his defeat this turn. "Your lifepoints are really low though, and its are really high." Lydia pointed out. "You do not need to fret, darling. That is how I wanted it to be."

Prospero's LP: 200

Meanwhile back with the fierce debaters. "What are you implying, I do not deserve this Puzzle?" Nero held it close to him. "Yes, you got it. Though do not take it too hard, not everyone can be the true heir." Cleo flinched, that word was familiar to her. "True heir? You mean like.. that guy in there?" Marcus looked back at the duel. "No, not him, even more special. Have you not figured it out yet?" He walked over to the main computer. "What I have been doing for the last few hours? I have tried to find a suitable match for the Pharaoh's soul. Cable knows what I mean." Fraser and him shared a quick glance. "You do?" Christined asked. "Yes. We all know the Puzzle has remained silent ever since we last saw the Pharaoh Raness. And I theorized that this was because none of our bodies are compatible with his spirit. We need to find a host, someone who descends from the family line, someone worthy of the Puzzle. The truth is, we need his help. And your fathers records could tell us a lot, Nero."

Back at the duel, the alleged final turn started. "Draw." He drew a spell, the right spell to finish this duel. "Left yourself open, didn't you? Then again a machine does not see the future like we do." He activ ated a spell: Mind Control. "Now my Tauk does not brainwash, but this spell fits the overall theme." He used it to take control of the left Jinzo. "But Mind Control is the inferior brainwashing spell, you cant tribute the monster or attack with it." Colin said. "Tributing no, however it seems there is no limit on sending something to the grave for a Synchro Summon." Krebons was also a tuner. "Level 2 Krebons, tunes with Level 6 Jinzo." This time a level 8 Psychic came from the Extra deck, and it looked more like a demon than a machine this time. "Thought Ruler Archfiend(2700/2300), welcome to the present." He played another spell to follow it up. "Psychotic Gate, this spell removes one monster on the field from play as long as it is active." Suddenly his Synchro became one with nothingness, sucked up into the portal.

_Psychotic Gate, Continuous Spell  
__You can only activate this card if your opponent controls more monsters than you do. Once per turn you can select 1 face-up monster card on the field and remove it from play.  
__When this card is sent to the Graveyard, return all selected monsters to the field in the same battle position as when they were removed from play._

"I can hear your words already, my brother." He pointed at Sairve whose mouth was not even open yet. "Why did I remove my trump card, and how can I win this turn?" He took another spell from his hand. "Here is how: Spell card, Reversal Quiz." If I can predict which card-type is on top of my deck, our points will be exchanged! And I guess its a spell!" He drew the top card from his deck, which was indeed a spell card, called Teleport. "The tauk told him that too hmm." So for the cost of sending all cards in his hand and on his field to the cemetery, the lifepoints were switched. "Now Psychotic Gate is gone, so its prisoner is released." From the next dimension came the Thought Ruler, he survived the heavy cost. "He let himself get hit and erased his own card, just for that spell to work. He planned all that out?" Suddenly the difference of 300 was just right. "I attack Jinzo." The Synchro monster released lightning energy to fry the android. Victory was his. "I admit, I am enjoying this new deck. I see I will keep it.."

Prospero's LP: 7700 CPU's LP: 0

"11837: that is how many people the computer thinks can be descended from that Pharaoh. And that is what it could prove.." Marcus finally had his hits, and he was not optimistic. "So.. any one of those can be the host, or only a select few?" Cable was hoping for the first answer. "I am affraid this is not enough. We all might as well be descendants from Raness at this rate." Nero looked at his puzzle. "Then what about my fathers research?" He was willing to help a little. "That is a different matter, Raness can not use his old shell. If the body is still there, DNA might be extracted, but it could match that of so many others. Genetics are not that simple" Jackson said. Then he looked over the long list. "But there may be a way." Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do share your idea.." Doe sighed, he did not want to say this.

"We have to destroy the Puzzle.."

(To be Continued in Testament 024: Puzzles within a Puzzle)

**New Cards used by Prospero (New Deck)  
**Psychic Commander  
Magical Android  
Krebons  
Thought Ruler Archfiend

-  
Mind Control  
_Psychotic Gate  
_Reverse Quiz

-  
Mind Haxorz

**New Cards used by Prospero (Old Deck)  
**Book of Eclipse

-  
_Card Defense(+)_

_(+) Based on the Trap used by Yusei in 5D's season 1_


	24. Puzzles within a Puzzle

**New Testament 024: Puzzles within a Puzzle**

"The results were quite impressive, mr. Prospero." Lydia and the seer stood next to a monitor which gave out several readings and tables. "We took brain wave readings during your match, EEGs and such. Throughout most of the duel the numbers remained constant." Which basically meant he had never lost his cool and kept thinking the same thing. "You really did foresee the entire game and planned out accordingly, no spikes came again." He just smiled confidently. "Of course, it was that easy to adapt to an incomplete deck. My old one does not compare.." His deck would be even more deadly once spell and trap card support was added. "But this first spike." She pointed out something on the chart, a high reading that occured early on. "This must be when you consulted the Tauk, wasn't it?" Proudly, he nodded. "We can share sights whenever I desire." Though the length of a vision depended on willpower. "I see. Well now we know what the exact pattern is for such a 'vision'." Lydia smirked. "Why would you need to know tha.."

"WHAT?"

Prospero's question would have to wait, as a more pressing matter came to everyone's attention. "What the?" Colin and Lydia looked to their left and saw the rest of the group in a fierce debate. "What did we miss?" Colin asked nobody in particular. "They are talking about the puzzle. Nero got all upset." Madlyn replied, pointing to the boy clutching the golden item. "Jackson, are you nuts?" He cried out, angered with something the other just said. "You want to destroy this: the container of the Pharaohs soul? Don't you know that it could kill him?!" He expected a suggestion like that from Marcus, but not from his own friends. "Indeed. What are you getting at?" Even the ex-Kartel member was surprised. "Is perhaps one of your darker personalities doing the talking?" He joked, yet Doe shook his head. "Hear us out. I did not mean to phrase it that way." Doe said, trying to calm him and several others down. "I only implied destruction in the contructive sense. The item is a puzzle right, the pieces can be taken apart and re-assembled later."

That explanation did take away some of the tension. "But why do we need to do something that drastic?" Everyone wondered. "I just realized something, I began to think how the situation with the puzzle is a lot like us." He referred to all 30 souls in his single mind. "A soul shattered, and no modern science can put it together. I feel that the Pharaohs puzzle is not something any normal man can solve. Which can only mean one thing." He sighed and looked at Cleo. "The one who completed it the first time, who was it?" Most knew that answer. "Glyph." The goth though had the most hate for that name. "Yes. I do not know how, but he build the puzzle after he gathered all missing parts. Either _he_ was a descendant, or he cheated his way through." He was hoping it was the latter cause. "If I get this straight, then you are saying: we can take the puzzle apart again, and nothing here will help us get it back together? Even if we figure out the puzzle, it wont let anyone solve it, except the descendants of the Pharaoh." Will summed it up, Doe nodded.

"It might be true." Cable spoke up. "Some Egyptian records mention a riddle Pharaohs had to solve in order to prove themselves worthy, in case the old family line died out." Though if that were truly the case, it would need something other than a biological heir. "Wont it set us back? If we break it, we wont even have a Pharaohs spirit intact." Nero was still worried, mostly for his sake. "We can not talk to him now either, we arent helpful to him outside of the Memory world. And it is not that we desperately need his assistance, but remember the last thing he said to us." The words spoken after the defeat of Orichalcos. "There is another darkness coming, we have seen its fangs already. The Pharaoh can not rest until this evil has been dealt with." He must have meant the Dark Magus. The one whose portal remained closed, for now.

"He survived a break-up before, did he not?" Marcus suddenly took the files from Nero's father and took a look at it. "Having read this full report, nobody can deny that the Puzzle was buried in box next to the sarcophagus of the tomb. And in that box were pieces, rather than a full item. So whoever buried their ruler, wanted the puzzle to remain broken until the right person found it." Too bad the first person was not the right one. "Grave robbers found the tomb first and claimed most of the pieces. Glyph reclaimed them all, from collectors, gypsies and even our own company." Lord knows how long that took him.

"Then, we have no other choice. How de we go about this?" Nero wanted to make sure they had a plan with the pieces afterwards. "Simple really, the computer will tell us how to reconstruct it. If one of us can follow that guide and rebuild it, no harm is done and the theory is proven wrong. If not, we will have to find the best candidates out of this hit list and ask them to do it for us. They could even see it as a contest tie-in for our show." Marcus would need something to keep his alibi busy with the actual show on a forced hiatus. "I will try it." Nero said. He of all people felt that he could do it right, even if he was not a true heir. "Very well. Then let not waste anymore time." Everyone got silent, and Jacobus took a deep breath. "Start with the top piece, it looks fragile." Well almost everyone was silent. "Thanks Madlyn. But I know what the weakpoint is." He reached for the part with the Eye on it, the part that belonged to Ananka. "Forgive me." He janked it out, and in that instant the whole deal fell apart. Dozens and dozens of pieces hit the floor.

"You really left nothing together huh." Colin could not begin to count them.

The next hour, true silence filled the basement. Nobody wanted to disturb Nero as he worked feverishly to connect the parts together again. Marcus printed out a helpful guide, but Jacobus did not seem to need it. He had been around the puzzle for so long that he knew every piece at heart. And it almost looked like he was going to finish the reconstruction, 80 % of the item was complete again. "_The theory is not right, or I am a descendant after all?"_ Yet he was not able to finish it, all because of one slight contrivance. "Why is.." One piece did not want to stick to the puzzle, no matter how well it connected. "No!" He tried it again and again, yet it never stuck. And after a while, it did not feel like it fit at all. "This can not be, this part belongs there, I know it does!" He could not continue, and tossed the papers aside in frustration.

"Nero?" Madlyn then took the print-outs. "Yes I agree, both he and the computer say that piece fits there and nowhere else." It was a mystery. Everyone in the room tried to put it in, but they all failed. None of the other pieces worked either, not without that major part placed inside first. "It's weird. It's as if we're trying to put two magnets together who keep opposing each other." Marcus had one last idea. "The computer itself may be free of such limitations. We will force the thing together." He gave it to the CPU's robotic hands. "Will that not just prove the theory? A robot can not be an host for a soul." Cleo scoffed. "True. But it would be n ice to know that we can put the puzzle together if the time calls for it." The machine was set to work, using its fingers for games that did not involve cards. It started to get somewhere. "Oh, he made it fit!" The stubborn piece connected now, and so did others. Now it was nearly complete, except for the last part. "Here it.." It was about to put in the tip, when the lights fell out. "Oh come on!"

"The fuse is blown?" They could barely see anything, the power was clearly out. "Some base you set up here, cant even handle one CPU." Prospero said, just before he nearly tripped over someone. "Close call, eheh." Just then the back-up generators came on and returned light to the area. "Okay, I have had it." Lydia walked up to the testing room. She saw that the puzzle was still missing the final piece. "Just, be complete already!" Forcefully, she took it from the machine and moved to insert the final fragment herself. Again a strange magnetic force pushed against her. "Gah!!" The closer she got, the less strength she could exert. "Lydia, don't do it!" Nero yelled. "She always did have short fuse." Again and again she pushed it in, only to be repelled. "This is just.." Cursing, she was about to toss it against the wall, when something caught her eye. "Hey." She could not turn her eyes away, they were fixated on the hole in the puzzle. It was dark, too dark. The more she stared, the deeper the hole seemed to be. "Wh-whaaat??"

She threw it away, and again it broke into pieces as it hit the walls. "Lydia, are you allright?" Christine walked over to her. She was shielding her eyes. "That was.." She opened them, and seemed to be relieved. "Not real?" Jackson started picking up pieces and inspected them. "What did you see?" He asked her eventually. "I saw..I saw.." She was still a little stressed out. "A maze, a maze of stones and walls. It was as if, the puzzle came alive." As if it wanted to devour her soul. "Ah. That must be the punishment." The others flinched. "He did what now?" Jackson had all the fragments now. "Not him, its some kind of curse. A protection against impure souls." That comment did not escape the apprentice. "What did you call me? An impure.." She advanced on him. Cable quickly came in between the two. "He means that the Puzzle itself punishes a human that tries to open the Puzzle for the wrong reasons. You knew you were not the host and yet you tried it anyway. Your emotions got the better of you."

"Well.. The theory is sound. We can not re-assmble the puzzle, only the host can." Now they needed to find him. "Wait. We have a guy that sees the future. Why dont we ask him who we are going to find eventually?" Madlyn smiled at their newest member. "Nice thinking." Marcus glared at him as well. "I can give it a shot. My darling might care about this matter." He took a deep breath and tried to summon his divine focus. His closed eyes were ready for anything, yet nothing came. "Odd. It does not want to tell me." He finally concluded. "It feels just like when you used your technology to block her." But that jammer was not on now. "Maybe. It can not predict the fate of the succesor." Colin suggested. "No wait, I remember. The items can not manipulate each other, only find each other. The Tauk can not see the future of someone who holds the Puzzle in the future. So by the time we have our host, he will already be immune to Prospero's ability." Everyone groaned. "So we gotta do this by hand? As if we dont have enough things to search for."

"Aye. The Puzzle, Key and Tauk we have now. Four are still missing." Prospero looked amazed at this. "There are seven like mine, I never saw that either." Glyph had The Rod and The Eye, and if he was still alive, his fate remained in hiding. "Then we have to start at key points. Ananka's family, they might know more or even be descendants themselves. She had the most important piece of the puzzle, and was somewhat of a gifted seer herself." Alas they could not ask her. "Whoever goes there, might have to come clean and tell her parents the real reason for her death." Marcus said as if he already knew that was not his problem. "We will let them try to finish the puzzle first. If they do not know about the punishment, they should be fine 'mentally'." Lydia cringed, but ignored him. "If that fails. We will first seed out known duelists, and ask them to complete the puzzle for a price. The one that succeeds, will be our candidate." If that too failed, they would have to extend their sources. "It is time-consuming, but we have no other choice."

"In the mean time I suppose you will send some of your people to Egypt." Cable suddenly said to his 'old friend'. "Heh, you read my like book." He did not deny it, that was his plan. "You can join if you like. To visit the Pharaohs resting place. His tomb was desecrated, but his body and everything around it was preserved within a museum close by. One that your father worked in for a while, Nero." Nero gasped, though he really should have expected that. "You are still with us, I assume. You may have given us everything we need, but you sitll need.. something." He and Madlyn shared a look. "You mean my parents." He had thought about that too. "The magical can help where science cant." Frase then clapped his hands together. "Lets do this then. We will continue to look for other Millenium Items and the Host. We do not know how much time we have, but we will get nowhere if we worry about that.". Tomorrow would be the start of a new search. "It is not as if those Items will fall into our lap."

But the Night would be the start of something else. Somewhere on the other side of the country, someone was preparing for the powers his side respected and desired. A man in a cloak, coughing and wheezing, walked up a long set of stairs. In his hand was a book, which he set down on a large table. He flipped through the pages while holding a lamp up to illuminate the text. Somewhere in the middle was the chapter he needed, or rather a hole in the pages that was hiding something. The stranger pulled out a key, and made an odd laughing sound. The hood fell down to reveal the eyes of this old man..

Only one of them was real..

(To be Continued in New Testament 025: Partner)


	25. Partner

**New Testament 025: Partner**

The stranger in the dark took the key hidden in the book and inspected it. It was not made from the same material as his fake eye, it was just a simple lead key. He seemed to be pleased with the object and put it into his long dusty coat. He did the same with the lamp, after he doused the flames. Quickly he rushed down the stairs, towards the exit. As it turned out, the building he was in was an abandoned church near a park. Even though the place was pretty isolated, he still glared at every corner to make sure nobody was watching him. Finally confident in his solitude, he moved to a van that was parked nearby. Coughing again, the old man opened the door and started the engines. "Hmm?" Though he turned them off when he remembered something. "Hmrmph." He sounded annoyed as he scurried over to the back and opened the doors of the hind compartment. "Tsk." Casually he pushed a dead body out of it, the blood from its headwound already dried up. Then without a worry in the world he drove off, leaving the corpse to rot in the park.

Somewhere else...

Marcus and several of his guards had flown off to Egypt, to visit the museum that reportedly held the sarcophagus of the Pharaoh. Along with him came Cable, Nero and William. They were of course there to keep an eye on him. "You follow me everywhere, it is almost as if you want to be my friend again." He seemingly could not help smiling at him every hour. "Believe me. I would much rather stay away from you, you attract trouble. Besides, I feel like I should have gone to the quarantine zone instead. If something goes wrong.." He looked out the plane, they were still flying over sea. "Once we've landed you can make any call you wish. I would do the same. After all we have divided our resources again, and a breakthrough can happen any hour now." He checked his watch. "Besides. Why do you keep assuming I am in any position to cause a disaster? You are not the only one watching me." Nero stared at him. "You mean, the government that let you go free?" He sneered. "No.. not them. I meant my sponsors.."

Back at the underground sector, the main generator had been restored to full power, and Cleo was left with one of the Students to guard the place. Though she was running an errand up stairs for the moment. "Back already huh." She said as the elevator doors opened. "Oh, were you expecting me?" But it was not exactly the apprentice she had in mind. "Wait, what are you doing here?" And neither did he think she would show up again. "I can ask the same thing!" Cleo stood opposite of Ceasar once more, the former champion of America. "No wait, do not tell me. Since you are a multiple winner on this show, Marcus entrusted you with his secrets as well as his new cards." She remembered how he would never shut up about that fact. "But of course. And it is at this moment that I understand why my Teacher did not sound surprised when I called him. You people are already working for him. That was why your friends came to pick you up." She twitched. "Hey! I do not work for him, you better get that into your head if you wanna stay here."

Just then someone else came down the same lift. "Oh Ceasar, who let you in?" This time he did the flinching, as he heard and saw Lydia. "Tsk, already moved on I see." She shook her head. "I object! Also where is Marcus?" He asked loudly. "Off on an important journey. I stayed here to protect the place." Plus she still did not feel too well, since that incident. "In any case, I got the execs to agree with that contest he suggested. In an hour we will know how much of a hit its gonna be." She said to Cleo. "Oh.. meh." She however noticed something else. "Don't tell me you two know each other." Lydia groaned, Ceasar looked pleased with himself. "We used to date, for a while." He explained, happily. "A very short while." She added strongly. "I should not have asked." Caine felt more drama coming on. "Leave me out of whatever you are gonna say next." She walked off. "So Ceasar, Rejected again eh? But do not feel too bad, there's two other girls you havent met yet." She cackled. "Oh?" He was more interested than insulted.

On the other side of the country, Colin, Christine, Jackson, Madlyn and Prospero were walking away from a somewhat large mansion. Trying not to look behind them, they were quiet for some time. "That did not go as bad as I thought it would go." Prospero broke the ice first. "... Those sad people." Madlyn said, rather calmly. "I think you mean 'poor'." Colin added. Though nobody felt like answering after him. So another bout of silence ensued, disrupted by an unexpected phone call. "That could be Cable." Christine said, and Jack answered the call. "Yes?" Rose had guessed correctly, Fraser was on the other line. "Yes we just landed. Marcus is arranging a bus to take us to the museum. Might take a while. In the mean time, how did things go over on your side?" Jackson looked at everyone, and he adjusted the volume so everyone could hear him. "It went .. reasonably well. Though I am affraid to tell you that none of us were able to tell them the truth." He sighed. "Oh? I do not blame you, but I thought we.." That had been their plan.

"Well. We wanted too, but Prospero suddenly had a vision that basically said we should not tell her parents how she really died." Colin glared at the seer, some still did not believe that he saw it exactly like that. "It is true. They are better off not knowing. Besides the official report is not an entire lie, Ananka did die of a heart attack." Just one that was inflicted by a thousandyear-old shadow demon. "Yeah well, lets not talk like that. We had to change our approach next." Rose explained. "Colin and Prospero went in and claimed they were from the national diviner club. Speaking for one of their own. Ananka was a fortune teller as well you see." Madlyn giggled "It was funny..but still sad." She was ignored. On the other end, Cable nodded. "That was the right choice. And then what happened?" Now Sairve spoke. "Oh we just told them we came to give them back the necklace she used to be wearing. You know the one piece that completes the Puzzle. She always said it was a family heirloom." And she had been right, but..

"They did not want it. Her father made it pretty clear that they never accepted her trying to become a seer. It seems the Isla family owns its own family company, and they wanted her to be a part of it. Instead she ignored her ties, stole the necklace and used it to make money at tournaments." Dueling must have come into her plans when she figured out she could manipulate certain cards with the Puzzle piece. "They cursed the necklace that lead to her death. And asked us to leave soon after." On a whole, they had at least avoided a big scene. "Hmm. I hate to ask, but did you get her mother or father to take the test?" He referred to the building of the Puzzle. "No. It turns we did not need too. They showed us around the house before things got too awkward. One of the things we saw as a quilt with the entire family tree for both sides." They were the proud type to keep that. "That record that dates back eons. They are not of Egyptian heritage. And as for how they got that piece, apparently their great grandmother bought it at a flea market."

So they were still at square one. Though Marcus and company were close to the true source of the Puzzle. "Impressive." They stood inside the museum now, staring at several items of note. "There is the coffin itself, and that." He pointed at a little golden chest. "..was where the Puzzle was supposed to stay." The museum itself was small though, covering merely national treasures of lesser importance. "Tum'aga must have overlooked this place, because it did not actually have an Item." The Eye and Key were at other exhibits. "But this is not what I hoped for." Cable stared into the sarcophagus, and found it to be empty. "They keep the bodies in these things normally?" Nero asked him. "Depends. But read the description." He pointed at a plaque. "It says the body of this Pharaoh was never found, they just know his name 'Raness'. This must mean the robbers also took the corpse, for some reason." William then had an idea. "Wait. Shouldn't this place have records of the archeologists that found the place? Maybe one of them has..."

"A descendant?" Lydia replied as she received the call from her Teacher. Roughly two hours after Carter came to his conclusion. "Yes. We were allowed to look into the archive and found out more then we could have hoped for. Not only did they have the names for the team that discovered the tomb. They also had the names of suspects, people who have been accused of tomb raiding. Some were found guilty, some not." That sounded like good information "And this helps us how?" But Lydia was still skeptic. "There is more. The inscriptions they took from the tomb tell us that before the robbers came there were several traps to protect the Pharaoh. Only the pure of heart could cross those traps. And this might be a stretch, but whoever first found the puzzle might have been an intended host. So I want you to crossreference the hitlist we have now with the names from the files I am going to send you. If any name double-checks, it might be our guy. A descendant from the thief that managed to uncover the Pharaohs resting place."

Once the call ended, Lydia decided to do just that. "It beats waiting around for those dumb kids to enter the contest." It seemed demand was high, but so far nobody had been able to even finish the holographic puzzle they sent out. "If they cant even solve a fake, they should not bother touching the real one." Meanwhile Cleo had been nice enough to fill in the blanks for Ceasar, in her own charming way. "And the craters upstairs, and the cancellation of the show?" He inquired. She just shrugged. "Oh I was never too clear on that matter, something about a pissed off client." The male student started to grin. "That suits me fine. If this show does not return, less children will gain the title I worked so hard for. Too think so many new apprentices were hired while I was away." He moaned out loud. "I repeat, not his follower. Never entered the show." She could not wait for the others to return, he could stalk Madlyn or whoever instead. "Aha!" Lydia shouted, looking at three names that were selected. "He was right after all!"

"Three people cross with the list examined by the computer. Meaning that these are the only ones to be both of possible ancient Egyptian descent and related to the group of robbers convicted for the raid of Raness's tomb. The others were either from overseas or have left no descendants themselves" Only one picture was included however. "He is a middle-aged man called Roderick Swart, he lives in America right now. The second, Elias Gaines is a student from England. The third has no public record aside from her name: Leila Camil. Their forefathers were the first men in millenia to see the Puzzle." Now they had a target or three. "We should find them as quickly as possible. I am sure with our resources we should be able to locate the third candidate despite her lack of records." Ceasar smirked. "Yeah you just want to find the girl first. I say we go after Elias, he is closest by." Cleo said. Lydia agreed with her, leaving Ceasar to sulk. "But we should before the others return of course, Jackson has the puzzle pieces."

Thus later that evening, the group that had talked to the Isla family had returned to the headquarters. There they were given the story Marcus uncovered and what the computer found as well. It was decided that there was not enough time to wait for the others to return from Africa. So another party took the helicopter early in the morning to fly towards the place Elias lived in. This time the foursome consisted of Cleo, Jackson, Madlyn and Ceasar, the seers and Christine chose to stay with Lydia and wait for the other plane. "Have we even thought about what we're gonna tell him? He is not even a duelist from what I can tell." That was a recurring question. "Well, first we will just let him try out the puzzle. If he fails too, we will just say we 'Punked' him or something." Cleo shrugged, she did not think the 'dueling' part was necessary at all. "He lives here it says." The helicopter flew over a strange and isolated mansion, located at the edge of a larger town. ".. These people all seem to have big houses." Madlyn noted as they descended.

Back at the quarantine zone, things had gone smoothly for a long time now. Boringly so in fact, some of the men started questioning their purpose here. Th only action they got lately was keeping people from crossing the perimeter and/or asking too many questions. "Those labcoats can test all they want, we could be doing better work elsewhere." One started. "Have we even gotten a close look at it, they wont show us anything." Another complained. Expectedly none of the scientists were growing tired of the phenomenon, the microscopic portal was a stable yet informational source of energy. Readings like theirs could not even be made with a Large Hadron Collider. "Its fascinating how this hole continues, where does it get its energy from?" Though as much as they enjoyed this orderly dynamic, a little chaos was about to be added to the system. "What?" One of them looked at the monitor and saw a spike in the graph. "Odd. That's the first movement on the.." Before he could finish his sentence, another spike hit the charts. "Ehr.." And another, and yet another. "People!" It did not stop. "We have activity!!!"

(To be Continued in Testament 026: The Shadow is Cast)


	26. The Shadow is Cast

**New Testament 026: The Shadow is Cast**

"Activity? Are you sure?!?" This was something new, none of the scientists expected it too happen so suddenly. "The meters are sure, I double-checked them." According to the equipment monitoring the micro-portal, large energy spikes were happening within it. "But this is not how sir Cable said it should be. He felt that the energy build-up would be instantaneous. These readings show a clear but chaotic build-up." They inspected them again, and found and oddity "Wait up. There is something not right with these frequencies. As if.." The head of the research group walked out of the tent. "What is it?" Others followed, the soldiers were coming too. "This energy spike was not caused by the anamoly itself, an outside source introduced it." That was his theory, and if it happened to be true. "What outside source, what can cause a reaction within a dimensional fracture?" They suspected the cause of the energy build-up was closer than they thought was allowed. "Tell the men to search the perimeter, the zone might have been breached."

The four duelists had found the location of Elias Gaines, a potential candidate for their Puzzle. His home was not for one family alone however."Oh, its an orphanage. That... makes this matter a bit worse." Though it was foreseeable, since there were no other members of the Gaines family on the list. "He lost his parents. That sounds so familiar." Madlyn was beginning to wonder how common a thing this was for 'their kind'. "We need to find him, but not alert any of the children." There were plenty of those around, very young ones at that. "Isn't he too old to live here?" Ceasar asked. "His profile says he only comes here for the weekends, he lives on campus normally. He did grow up here however." Now the question was, how were they supposed to approach him? "We should set-up a meeting with him through the owners of this etablishment, go somewhere outside and wait for him to come. Leave him a invite or a card." Madlyn explained. "You;re saying we should do, what you did to Nero?" Cleo rasped. "It worked in the end, didnt it?"

An hour later, Elias came walking down the stairs, not knowing what message waited for him. The housekeeper walked up to him and passed it on, a note which told him to come outside when he had the time. This was unusual for him, but he accepted. "I am here, who called for me?" He shouted around, and then he saw them. "Is that him?" A strange bunch indeed. "The pictures match." One of them looked like was also a student, but his uniform was different. "I expected more from the host, really." A male in black leather. "He does not even have any weird hair, just plain blonde." A girl that looked like a goth. "At least he is cute-looking." And another girl in an elaborate dress. "Uhm, who are you people?" He did not really know what to expect. "Oh sorry, my name is Ceasar Andrews. And these are my associates: Cleo Caine, Jackson Doe and Madlyn Halliday." Cleo would have liked to fume about the 'my associates' bit, but Doe stepped in. "We came here for.. a question." He pulled the Millenium Puzzle out of the bag.

"Do you know what this is?"

A moment of silence followed, Elias stared at the object with a look of confusion and fascination. "I think so.." Everyone gasped. "... that is pure gold isn't it?" And their astonishment quickly died. "Ehr yes. So I assume you do not know anything else?" Doe tried to hide his disappointment. "Should I? Why is this so important?" They quickly realized, as they feared already, that Elias knew nothing about the crimes his great-grandfather committed. They need a back-up excuse quick. "Well, we're here from the National Puzzle and Games commitee. And we select grade A students to join our competitions. Your name came up." Madlyn was the one with the quickest story. "What? Me?! But my grades are not.." Jackson approached him again. "That does not matter. If you can solve this puzzle, you qualify for round 1." He held out the puzzle and the last unplaced piece. "Wait? One fragment, is this a joke?" He was skeptic, but saw no harm in humoring these weird people. "If you insist." He shrugged, took the puzzle and... completed it.

"!!!" Everyone's shock returned as they saw what he did, what nobody else had been able to do. "You did it?" Cleo gulped. "Yes? It was not that brainbreaking.." He laughed. "But it.. was a special puzzle. Yes." She stammered. "Was it? Well it did feel odd for a second, like it was humming." He wanted to give it back to Jackson. "Oh I get it, it must one of those magnet puzzles, insert the wrong piece at the wrong angle and all goes wrong." They however were presented with another riddle. "_Nothing happened_." Madlyn whispered. "_We know_." They quickly huddled together. "Is everything okay?" Gaines stared at them. "Yeah just fine. _What do we do now, the Pharaoh did not react at all!"_ If he was the true host, chances of which were really high right now, then solving the puzzle alone had not been enough to connect the two. "Maybe he needs to be aware of it?" It did not feel right to Cleo to not let him in on it. "No, I think, our king is still sleepy. We need to wake him up." Ceasar smirked. "Wake him up? How!?" He had an idea about that.

"Oh no." Back at the film studio, the ones that remained started to realize something was up with the quarantine zone. "Just in time I suppose." Around this hour, Cable and the others returned from Egypt. They learned about Elias before they came in, but this news was something else. "Activity? So soon! It must be.." Will looked at Cable and he nodded. "Yeah. The dark one is no longer waiting. Whatever comes through that portal will come soon. We need to get the men out of there and send in more troops." He picked up his phone and was about to call when suddenly. "Marcus?" He saw a screen that looked straight at the scene, frantic scientists and soldiers. Simmons had just turned it on. "You snuck in a camara when you were there, didn't you?" He looked at his old friend with an accusing glare. "It is convenient for us now, isn't it?" He grinned. "Could be. But I will want all those tapes after this is over." However it did not look like that was going to happen. "It really is happening." Christine hoped the others were getting somewhere.

"Are you sure about this?" Elias had on his arm a device he had trouble understanding: the Dueldisk. "Oh definitely, it is stage two of the quiz." Cleo stood opposite of him, saying things out loud while thinking something else entirely. "_Why did I get selected for this?"_ On the sidelines stood Jackson, Madlyn and Ceasar, the latter smug about his perfect plan. "How does this work again?" Madlyn wondered. "I read a lot during the flight, about their adventures. It seems dueling is the perfect way to solve all problems for them." He winked at Jackson. "I also read the Memory World files, good stuff. But what caught my eye was the fact that Raness knew about dueling already, he even played the current version once. So I figured, if this guy wears the Item close to him, a duel might provoke the spirit of the king and awaken him." He was happy that he too could make up complex schemes. ".. It could work." Doe would havr to wait and see. "Well, let's make it quick. I have to help with brunch in a short while." The disks were activated.

Elias's LP: 8000 Cleo's LP: 8000

Well one was. Cleo drew her cards. "You know how this works?" He shook his head. "You have to unfold it." Cleo sighed. This guy seemed a lot more gullible than was good for him. "Like this?" He m,anaged to turn his on as well, and five cards were given to him. "At least he learns fast." She chose to let him go first, to let him get a feel for the machine. "What kind of deck did you give him anyway?" Ceasar asked Madlyn. "Nothing with Synchros, that was Caine's only condition on accepting this match." And indeed, he had gotten a deck thet pre-dated the Synchro era, but was still somewhat dangerous. "Which to choose. I have seen this game on TV sometimes, but never payed much attention." He did not know what to do, so he just placed a random monster on the field. "I think its called Lightsworn, Aurkus the Lightsworn Druid, and..whoa." As he placed the card on its slot, a hologram of a white-robed druid appeared(1200/1800). "These holograms are real after all? I always assumed the TV just faked them with effects."

He touched the hologram, only for his hand to fade through. "I can't even begin to imagine how these work. Anyway..how do you say it again? Oh right.. I end the turn." Then something odd happened. "Hey?" The deck spit out several cards. "I wants me to toss them away?" He looked at the card text of Aurkus. "Indeed, that is the cost for most Lightsworns. Their theme is self-milling." Ceasar told him. "That one requires 2 discards." Elias seemed to get that quickly enough, he took the two and inserted them into the graveyard. (After some searching around). "My turn?" Cleo was not impressed yet. I summon this one." She called out Double Coston(1700/1650) the twin ghost. "And attack yours." To his surprise, his Druid went down quickly, and he lost some lifepoints. "His higher defense did nothing?" She shook her head. "Does not work like that, you need to put it in defense to use defensive stats. That would be a horizontal position on the disk." He understood now. "Then I will correct for my mistake in my turn."

Elias's LP: 7500

He drew again and summoned a new monster. "Lightsworn Hunter, Ryko?" This time it was beast-type, a white wolf(200/100). "These Lords of Light also have animal companions... In any case I will use its effect to destroy your monster!" He said excitedly, except nothing actually happened. "Ehr.." Cleo knew what went wrong. "Elias, thats a flip effect. It will not activate unles flipped from face-down to face-up." He gasped. "Oh no." He did not expect effects to work like that. "It's okay, flip effects are rare these days." Jackson assured him. "That may be, but I can not hold back now." Cleo quickly entered her turn, since Gaines knew he had wasted his. "_If I put the pressure on him, the awakening might come faster."_ It sounded weak, but not impossible. "Here I come." She sacrificed Coston for Despair from the Darkness(2800/3000)

"Sorry Kid. We need to test adaptability in tense situations as well." The nightmare ghost shrieked and its large talons lashed out to smother the Hunter beast. "wait!" When suddenly the opponent discarded a card from his hand, and light filled the area. But Cleo was the one that lost the exchange. It happened instantly, the wolf powered up inside this strange light aura(3000/100) and counter-attacked Despair. "How did he do that?" The goth must have missed something, yet he had no traps set. "Honest." Jackson stated, pointing at a holy figure in the sky, an angel monster. "Honest is a fairy that can be discarded from the hand when monsters of Light do battle. Adding the enemy's attack to the battler." The weak wolf had gained Despairs mighty attack for 1 round. "Great, so I am wide open." She placed a trap and ended her turn.

Cleo's LP: 7800

"Go get her Elias!" New voices suddenly entered the fray. "Huh?" They looked up and saw several children looking through open windows. "You can beat her!" The orphans were cheering him on. "Oh joy, now kids dislike me." Cleo sighed. "Well they know me better, its only natural..." Elias drew again, Ryko powered down(200/100). "Sacrifices are a part of this too." He looked at a card in his hand. "I can sacrifice this monster, Ryko for this one." He showed them a level 6 Lightsworn, one whose attack would definitely hurt. "He is starting to grasp the complexities." Doe wondered if this was natural talent. "_We feel.. odd waves in the air."_ But just then, Madlyns phone went off. "Oh?" She took it, and received what sounded like an urgent message. "Oh dear. I think we have run out of time.".

At the quarantine zone, the people were of a divided mind. One side wanted to study the anamoly more, the others wanted to destroy it before it got out of hand. "They gave us one order: make sure nothing comes through that portal. We are here to make sure." The commander growled at the labcoat who did not back down. "We can not let it go to waste, we should contain it, weaken it!" In the end, the soldier side overpowered the argument of the scientists. Especially when the energy build-up had surpassed the scale limits. "Clear the area." To deal with the threat, they set up bombs all over the area in a 5-foot radius. They retreated a yard away, and waited for the commander to give a signal. "Please, do not do this!" One scientist cried out. "This is for the good of the nation. Now sit down and watch this!" He yelled at them and then at his subordinate. "Ignite the charges, let it rip!" He obeyed and turned the knob, which caused all explosives to go off simultaneously. "No." The area was filled with smoke.

The smoke did not last..

In the next few seconds all of it had been absorbed into the hole, as if there was a vacuum on the other side. "No way, it absorbed the enegry from the detonations?" This was both thrilling and horrifying. "We can not destroy it?" The commander was baffled. He was about to give out new orders when 'it' happened. "Oh god." For one fraction of a second, the microscopic portal expanded into a large screen. And that small timeframe was enough for something to pass through. "It is here?" And the worst of it was, it had not come alone. Two figures emerged from the rift between dimensions..

(To be Continued in New Testament 027: Second Contact)

**New Cards used by Elias Gaines  
**Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid  
Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter  
Honest


	27. Second Contact

**New Testament 027: Second Contact**

"Get out of the van!" A soldier yelled at the man in the vehicle. "You are trespassing on private property, come out with your hands up!" The person inside did not comply immediately, so the trooper shot down the tires. "I will not give a second warning!" Finally the man relented and stepped out. He was covered from head to toe under a dark tethered cloak. "Are you a reporter, or just another one of those nosy kids? Where are your credentials?" He held him at gunpoint and opened a comlink to his commander. "Sir I have apprehended a..." But the line was dead, he could not patch through. "Eheheh." Then the strange intruder let out a strange throaty cackle. "What are you laughing at?!" This ticked the man off and he moved to restrain him. "Take off that thing and show me who you are." He pulled of the hood of the cloak, only to back down immediately." Gah!, What are you!!" He could barely stand to look at it, his voice was filled with disgust. And this trespasser just continued to laugh, sounding less than human. What what was about to happen was what amused him.

Two entities passed beyond the barrier of worlds, in front of the army and the scientists stood a pair unlike any they had seen before. Humanoid in appearance, one stood tall while the other appeared to be of short stature. The tall one wore plating of the finest silver, his entire body including his face was armored with it. The short one was dressed more regally, with less armor and a cape. He only hid his eyes behind a metal plate. "Who are these..how did they get in here?" The soldiers were astounded and some even terrified. The side of science however was intruiged, beyond reasoning that could be considered healthy. "My god. These came from.. this portal? They were sent here from a whole other dimension." One gasped as he approached the two. "No do not go there!" The commander warned in vain. Curiosity had overcome the man, he had to see them up close. "Incredible. Just incredible.. I must know, who are you? What are your names?!" They in return stared at this strange creature, and the smaller one came forward.

"You ask... poorly."

Suddenly he lashed out and placed his hand on the mans neck, lifting him into the air. "Grghl." The soldiers all aimed their gun at him, but were too nervous to act. "The question should have been: What am I, compared to you?" A strange energy overcame the entity, it passed over to his victim. "The answer is simple: Nothing." He screamed out loud, before fire a color they could not describe consumed him. Not a trace of his body was left, no echoes of agony. "Nothing is how you were born, and that is how you will die. You are superfluous." This was reason enough for the men to break loose. "FIRE!" They gave the two everything they had, bullets and rockets flew towards them. "Archon." The small one called out the name of his companion. He responded and raised his hand. That gesture somehow stopped every projectile in its track, their ammo dropped to the ground as if they had lost all their firepower. "Impossible. Nothing can create a magnetic field that big!" One of the other labcoats cried out. "This is not what we expected, not what we.."

"Enough of you." The small one clapped his hands together. "The moment you layed eyes on our greatness, your souls were forfeit." The strange glow spread out, covering the entire quarantine zone. "I can not move!" Even the perimeter guards were trapped within it, like the one that apprehended the van driver. "I am the disciple of the great magus, I am the Lead pillar: Zakarias. Know the name of the one who gave your wretched souls purpose." It was all over for them, all gone in a heartbeat. Their bodies consumed by cleansing flames that erased both body and soul. The spiritual energy had nowhere else to go than into the portal from hence they came. Not a single human existed in a five yard radius. "..." Archon looked at his companion, who seemed exhausted. "Just doing the bidding of the Magus." He wheezed. "It seems our powers work in this world as well, but only we were able to cross over." The two looked back at the gateway, it was again as small as a needle. "We need a lot more life energy, to sanction the true arrival."

Throughout all of this, the cameras Marcus had installed had lasted and taken footage of the entire nightmarish scenario. "No..." All present in the underground headquarters had witnessed the destruction of dozens of lives. "They were all.." It was too much for Christine, she could not look anymore. "He took their souls, and burned their bodies so they could not return to life." Cable explained coldly, it was the harsh truth. "This is what we are delaing with? These people are our enemies!?" Prospero was the most shocked of all, he was new to enemies that could be so genocidal. "You did not see this coming?" Colin rasped. "How could I? This is unforeseeable." The only ones remaining calm throughout all this were Simmons and Carter. The latter had a different reason than lack of concern though. "We need to go there." He said as if it was a fact. "And do what? Duel these people!? How can we, when they have those powers!" Lydia snapped. "No..he is quite right. A duel is another way to engage these enemies." Marcus smirked.

"If only the army had accepted my dueling soldier plans, instead of putting it on a backburner. These people might have survived." William twitched. "That is not what I meant." Cable shook his head. "Regardless, we can not confront them if we know so little. We do not even know what they are, or where they come from." They only knew what Turner told them, the portal was meant for his master; The Magus Ka. "Obviously these are not the main boss here, they even said so. Those two must be minions of that Magus-guy. Though I do not know why they came first and not the big chief." Colin was not that far from the truth. "Perhaps they could not teleport all at once, so the Magus sent his servants to continue Turners work." Christine flinched when Nero made that suggestion. "Oh no. Does that not mean." Just then the camera lost track of them. "Hey, where did they go? We can not afford to lose sight!!" Marcus quickly rewound the tape and unpaused it at a telling point. "Well I will be.." A point that revealed how they could have vanished like that.

They were flying in the air, travelling towards the nearest city. It only took then ten minutes tops to reach it, and then they landed square in the middle of a road. "whoaaa!!!" A hand full of cars pressed their breaks to avodi running over these people that dropped from the sky, literally. Some crashed into others, one even flipped over. Screams of panic and anger filled the air. The disciples stood at the center of it. "So loud. The world has changed since my time." Zakarias sighed. "Archon, silence this settlement. I want some quiet and peace when we search for our vessels." The armored one seemed to make a move of protest, but the small one would have none of it. "The forge still needs to recharge, you will do this instead. You can trust my vision, I have been with the darkness before you. Remember that." So Archon heard, and he obeyed. One hand was raised. "Rune Omega." As he spoke these words, a marking appeared on the ground beneath him, a glowing seal that spread out all over the city.

"What the?" They had gone from their camera to a satellite point-of-view, they saw the effects of the spell from far above. "That can not be." What they saw was a city literally disappearing from the maps, all evidence of the area were erased without a trace. "Did they.. destroy it all?" Colin barely dared to ask. "No. We are still getting other readings, lifesigns and such." Marcus explained. "I would ask how your satellite can read such things, but then I remember what they are." Just then the city came back into view, as if a curtain of static was lifted. "This does not feel good. We know those two are in there, doing god knows what to those people." Nero slammed his fist against the wall. "And I just realized..why they are doing this." He turned to leave. "Where are you going?" He glared at Cable. "That place is where they keep all the victims of that villain you dueled, right? Those two are gonna steal their souls all over again, and finish the portal. I will not let them do it!" Others tried to protest but he took the elevator and went up alone.

Since that was the only way out of here, it would be hard to catch up. "Does he think we will let him leave?" Lydia was about to call the guards on him with her phone, but Simmons stopped her. "Let him go." He whispered. "We can not let him head out alone! We have to help." Rose agreed with Nero's stance, she did not want to see any more lives taken. "Well they did say we should not go against these guys unprepared." Colin trembled. "You should not go at all, Sairve. You are one of the six souls they will look for." Fraser said to him, reminding him of the fact that Turner had stolen his soul for only an hour. "Oh yeah, that is right, better stay here." He seemed relieved, but also ashamed. "This is an impossibility. My Tauk will not show me anything about them." Prospero tried to force a vision, to no avail. "No luck from you. Let's call the others, see if Elias really checks out. We could use some good news right about now." Marcus nodded and made the call to Ceasar. Though he only accepted text messages.

"..You know. I think there is a way for you to fight against these servants." He said, speaking grimly all of the sudden. "What do you mean?" Rose asked quickly, she was growing impatient. "The readings we took from Prospero's duel, and now these from the duel between Cleo and Elias here." He shook his head. "Then again, it probably will not fit your style." He almost smirked. "Just tell us what you are referring to!" She finally snapped. "You will recall the device I use to block the powers of Millenium Items." He pointed at the item of the fortune teller. "I believe I can provide the opposite effect as well. I may be able to pass on the powers of Millenium Items to other players, if they are in tune with my machine." They understood what this could lead to, the powers of foresight shared by all.

"Yes, I could turn you all into flawless duelists like Prospero here. Or even better, like the Pharaoh. No further lives need to be lost. This is still in its testing phase, yet we just ran out of time." Now was as good a time as any to test it. "Then we should..wait." The six below just noticed someone was lacking. "Where is Carter?" They all looked around and saw him nowhere. "The elevator is not back yet, where could he have gone off too?" Cable flinched. "Oh no, he must have snuck out even before Nero did. He has the same intentions!" He just did not shout them out loud. "Great, now we gotta stop two suicidal idiots."

Indeed, on the surface it did not take long for the two to meet. "Come on." Just when Nero had hit a dead end too. He tried to get a helicopter to start. "Can't get it to work?" And that was when Will showed up behind him. "William!?" He was surprised to see him. "You can not stop me!" He yelled and wanted to close the door. "I am not going to. I think the same way." He smiled at him. "You are? What about the others?" Carter shook his head. "The way I see it, those people in the hospital are there because of me. Because Turner fooled me. I owe them, I can not let them get killed twice. The others may feel like that too, but I also understand we stand little chance." He did not want to drag his friends down with him. "There are two of them, two of us. We will fight them together. If we can not win, so be it." He took the helm and managed to start it up. That was more than Nero could do in the last 5 minutes. "You know how to fly?" He nodded. "Been reading a lot of manuals out of boredom, but also as a tribute to an old friend."

The five other victims of Turner had been moved to a single ward inside a single hospital, just as Cable had ordered. Only one of them was awake by now, the workman that had been Turners fifth host. Two of the others showed some signs of life, and would probably wake up today. Then there were two who had been flown in from other countries, they looked very bad. "_It is so quiet_." Even though the fifth had fully recovered, he was not allowed to leave his bed. Yet the once bustling building was now as quiet as a morgue, he could not afford to just lie down any longer. "_Might as well_.." He ripped the cords from his arm, setting off several alarms. "_Nobody coming?"_ After a while he deduced nobody was gonna come for him, for whatever reason, and stood up. This would have been a delight, to be able to move freely, if not for the eerieness of the hour. "Hello?" He asked if anyone could hear him. Nobody answered. "This is so not good." The window was his next choice, he decided to look out and hope to get a better view of what was ..

...going on. And he did get a view, one he never bargained for. "Wh-wh-what?" As he opened the curtains, two figures stood in the way of the sunlight. Their shadows were cast down upon him, sending a feeling of indescribable dread down his nerves. And that was before he even achknowledged that they were standing on nothing but air, five stories high. "This is it." Zakarias smirked as he swiped his hand through the glass, sending fragments everywhere. "Five of six are here, polite these humans can be. And one of them is awake.. looks like he wanted to be accepted first." He stepped in. "I do not blame him.."

(To be Continued in Testament 028: Save our Souls)


	28. Save Our Souls

___****_

New Testament 028: Save our Souls

"What is going on?" Elias found it curious how the mood suddenly shifted. One minute these people were trying to recruit him for some contest, then they were all panicking around a phone call. "Ehrm, its something urgent... with another contestant. Please hold." The duel had been postponed for now, even though he started to get the hang of it. _"I was winning too_." He sighed and sat down on the porch. "Who are these people sir Gaines?" The mistress of the orphanage stepped outside and asked him. "Actually, I do not know. I somehow just feel that I can trust them." He looked down and saw the thing in his hands, that golden puzzle which he completed. What kind of an entrance test would use real gold like this? _"They are hiding something though. I feel as if this Puzzle is what they came here for after all..." _

"Why aren't they answering?" Cleo fumed. It seemed Marcus would not bother with anything else besides text messaging. "The situation must be too hectic right about now. All we know is that the portal opened and something came through." Ceasar had sent replies, which nobody answered so far. "There is a strange smell in the air yes. We should not linger here." Jackson could sense it better than the others, an evil just like Orichalcos had entered this world. "What about him then, we can not leave him like that?" Madlyn referred to the orphan boy, the supposed heir to the Pharaoh. "He did solve the puzzle yes, but that is no way to tell if he is right for us, is it? He dueled me and still nothing happened." Personally the goth thought the theory was a load of.. "Wait, we have another message." Ceasar gasped. "Finally: what does it say?" They all looked at the cellphone and saw one sentence. It was a command: Do not leave the Boy, he is The One we need. "He is?" They blinked. "How did Marcus figure that out before we did?"

Will and Nero approached the edge of the city. "I will land on the freeway. Nobody is using it." The silence was foreboding. Though it was not as terrifying an omen as the strange pale-blue glow that covered the streets. They did not want to fly over the strange energy. "This must be what caused the city-wide blackout. It is disrupting all communication to and from this place. Literally making the world blind to the city." Will checked his mobile phone, the line was dead. "We wont be able to call for help now." Nero tried to look for signs of life, but saw nothing. They finally landed in between several cars on the road, some of them had crashed into each other. "Check them! People have to be hiding in there." They went to see what was inside, but found nothing. No bodies, no clothes, everything was taken. "That can not be. Did they burn everyone into nothingness?" Nero felt his anger rising, his hand balled into a fist. "We do not know what happened. We do know.. we have to find the hospital before they do."

Unfortunately, that was an impossibility. The two fiends were already there, and their targets were in sight. "What.. are you?" The workman stammered, he looked upon two beings in armor not standard for any place on the planet. "Adorable, it thinks we are here to dignifiy its responses." The small one, Zakarias, seemed amused. The only part of its face that was not covered allowed the poor soul to see his fanged smile. "They are all here?" He inquired his taller companion. Archon inspected the beds and nodded, the five souls selected by Turner were under one roof. "You.." The fifth flinched and stood up. "Hm?" There was something different about his expression now. "You are with 'him'?" Zakarias tilted his head, he sounded surprised. "Oho? You have memories of that hour? Then the crawler's possession worked differently than I thought." It was strange for the worker, only now did he start recalling events leading up to his comatose state. It was as if seeing these people jumpstarted his mind, that was not a good sign.

"Get away from me!" He stumbled backwards, knocking down several trays and tables. "What have you done with them, the staff, the city?" He demanded an answer. "Me? I did nothing. My associate Archon took the liberty to redeem this locale from all that plagued it. The souls and bodies of everyone have become a feast for the lord." Hearing this, he panicked and tried to make a run for it. "You jest.." But suddenly invisible chains shot out of the ground and wrapped around the ankles of the runaway, causing him to trip into the floor. "You have less to fear, human. You will be consumed for a unique end." The victim could not get away, his struggles could not break these strange ethereal bonds. "You and all your friends were selected for the coming of Ka. One of us failed to complete the ritual, we are here to correct for that error." He looked him right in the eyes, the mans frightened face reflected in his helmet. "D-damn you!!" He mustered enough emotion to yell out one last time. "I fear, the only ones left to damn.. is your kind."

A scream echoed across the building, and the remnants of that echo were felt outside. "Oh no." Nero and William had found the hospital, only to realize the bitter truth. "We are too late." Carter said cheerlessly. "Do not talk as if we have to give up already, we can still.." He shook his head, only now did he see the fact that he had no plan, no clue what to do against such monsters. "You are right, we have to try." Carter said and placed his hand on his friends shoulder. Nero nodded. "They will not leave unpunished." The pair ran inside and headed for the source of the cries. They did not last long, the place had gotten quiet once more once they found the stairs. And on every level there was a disturbing lack of human life, the villains had indeed taken all of men to feed their master. "I can not believe this." It was not hard to track down the source of the distress, only one room had its door wide open and glass spread across the floor. They took a deep breath and went through the opening. They were finally face to face with the enemy.

"Guests?" Zakarias turned his shielded face towards the newcomers. "No!" Who saw the carnage they had unleashed. Three people layed on the floor, cold as the grave. The fourth was in the hands of the servant, also lifeless. Will recognized him as the guy who dueled him in the graveyard. "You bastards, you murdered them." Nero growled, Will had to refrain him from getting too close. "Murder? That is what your kind does, Nero Jacobus. We only take lives for a special purpose, for the masters grand design." He dropped the body. "You know our names?" Carter made the question, Jacobus was too mad to even care about that. "Naturally. Like all servants we gain our wisdom from our creator, you have seen its shape before and it has seen yours. That is how the Crawler knew which souls to target if it wanted to break the barrier between both worlds." William inspected the room and turned back to the fiend. "Your world. That is where your master is, where you sent the souls?" He wondered if there was still a way to save them.

"Those belong to Ka now. You can not save them, you can not save anyone." This was the snapping point for Nero, who broke free of Carters grip. "You are wrong!" He jumped over the fallen trays and picked up the body of the only person who was still breathing; the girl that Turner had possessed first. "What act of foolishness is this, you wish to defy Ka?" Zakarias made a gesture, the same one he used to chain down the workman. Yet nothing happened, no bonds appeared to trap Nero, who was free to run off. "Will let's go, we can not let them have this one!" He said as he raced out of the room. Zakarias wanted to follow yet now Will decided to stay and block his path. "You will have to go through me first." Nero glanced back and saw what his friend did. "Will.." He chose to continue, since this was his only chance to escape. "Hmph. Archon, bring him back to us." He commanded his companion. The knightlike servant complied and jumped out the window again, flying down to catch Nero before he could leave the place.

"So. William Carter is willing to give his life for two others. What makes you hope you can even delay me?" Will smirked when he heard that. "I saw you, your movement. You tried to stop my friend, but you could not. Whatever magic you have, it will not work against us for some reason." Zakarias cringed for an instant. "So you suggest. _This must be because both they and us have basked in the dark light of Ka." _He thought. "Yet there are different ways to demonstrate our dominance over your kind." He extended his hand, and the flesh started throbbing, veins popped up. "!?" Something grew out of his wrist, like a tumor. It was a blade of sorts, a familiar blade. "Dueldisk?" In the enemy's hands was a dueldisk that almost resembled theirs, the color was sickly and the shape was sharper. "We will duel with your soul on the line, William Carter." Without warning another circle of light appeared beneath the two, and it started floating, carrying them both upwards as the ceiling itself parted open. "Let us be gone from this zone." They travelled through solid concrete, only to end up on the rooftop of the hospital. Here their match would take place. "..." Will had nothing to say, no objections. This was the way to keep Zakarias busy. "Duel."

Zakarias's LP: 8000 Williams LP: 8000

"Good." His disk grew wider, and cards came from it. "You first." Both drew five cards from their respective decks, and Zakarias was allowed to draw his sixth. "You want to see what monsters devote their essence to the darkness? I do not blame your curiosity, but I do not need to answer it. That time will come on its own." He summoned a monster, the Chainsaw Insect(2400/0). "That card?" The duelist had seen that insect before, a monster that gave the opponent an extra draw every time it attacked. But this deck was not about insects. "Now a spell: Hand Destruction. Sever 2 'cards' from your hand, and I will follow your lead." Grunting Carter discarded 2 monsters. "But afterwards we can draw 2 cards again." His hand was replenished. "Your deck must either be about Greed or Deck Destruction, we have faced both of those before." Will explained, almost smugly. "You have. Yet you guess poorly... Look at yourself." Something strange was in his hand now. "Wha.." There was a monster card he had never seen before.

It had the image of a claw lacking a torso. "This is not mine." Before he could protest, the thing was removed from his fingers. "Hey!" And chains came from the floor to wrap around his ankle. "What is this?" He looked at Zakarias, getting anxious. "Do not fear yet, Carter. You have only seen the grand design of my ability; The Unredeeming. When you draw a piece from your deck, your escape from this game will be further limited." There was more, but he was not spoiling the secret just yet. "How did they even get in my deck?" He asked, but the enemy feigned ignorance. "If you can not see the how, you do not need to understand. I will set a 'card' and end my 'turn'." Wills turn began, and he was getting worried about his own draws. "_Are there more 'claws'? One for each geographical direction?" _But to ignore his draws was inaffordable, so he had to end this game quickly and decisively. "Draw!" And thanks to the Hand Destructor, he had some good cards in his hand now, aside from the one that was removed. "Future Fusion!"

"I send materials for a fusion monster to the grave, and it is special summoned two turns from now. The monster I pick is Chimeratech Overdragon!" With that machine fusion, he could discard 1 Cyber Dragon and as many machines from his deck as he desired. "I send the Dragon and five machine type monsters." Three of those included a set of wellknown machines: Cyberdark Keel, Cyberdark Horn and Cyberdark Edge. "The Black Dragon." Zakarias realized what his next spell would be. "Now, I play Cyberdark Impact: I send the materials for the Fusion monster: Cyberdark Dragon back to my deck and special summon it." The Armored Black Dragon appeared as Edge, Keel and Horn were revived and integrated into one monster(1000/1000). The Dragon also gained 100 attackpoints for the 4 other monsters in the grave(1400/1000). "Next, its second effect takes one dragon-type from the cemetery and takes its powers!" And thanks to Hand Destruction, he had already sent that one dragon to its death. "Rainbow Dragon!"

Zakarias was almost impressed, as he saw the one black dragon attain all 7 colors of the rainbow. "The Crystal God? You use your bothers card now, apparently." Rainbow Dragon(4000/0) was a monster Andre used in his Crystal Beast deck. "Yes, this one I do. It combines with Cyberdark well." The fusion now gained the attackpoints(5300/1000) of the Crystal card. "But that is still not eneough to end this in one turn, Limiter Removal!" Finally he played the quickplay spell, to double the attackpower of all machines, like the Black Dragon(10600/1000). "If this hits your Insect, you will lose 8200 LP, and you will be defeated!" He shouted and ordered his machine to strike with a burst of full dark energy. "Indeed you start off overpowering me quite well. Yet.." He flipped his trap, a continuous one. "Depth Amulet." Zakarias discarded 1 card from his hand, and the massive dark burst was destroyed by an invisible wall. "No!" He was shocked, his onehitkill was negated by 1 trap? "You can not touch us, we are the superiors."

"It is your fate to die by the hands of the Unredeemed One.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 029: Dead End of Paradise)

Rainbow Dragon

Eastern Claw of the Unredeemed One, 2/300/200 Light/Spellcaster  
When this card is added to your hand, it is removed from play. As long as this card is removed from play, you can not concede the game.

New Cards used by William Carter

-  
Future Fusion

**New Cards used by Zakarias**  
Chainsaw Insect  
_Eastern Claw of the Unredeemed One_

-  
Hand Destruction

-  
Depth Amulet


	29. Dead End of Paradise

********

****

New Testament 029: Dead End of Paradise

Nero ran as fast as he could while carrying an unconscious body, he never looked back. "_Blast it Will, what did we come here for? To trade one life for another_?" He had no idea what was happening to his friend, but he feared the worst. There was no sighting of the enemy either, that worried him. They came as a pair, either one could have slipped through. "_We went about this all wrong, didn't we? This is not like.."_ He stopped. "No." Almost at the exit, he saw the entity. "..." The taller armored one blocked the way out, and he was probably not going to let him through. "You can not have her." He placed her gently on the floor and stood in front of her. "You will have to take me on instead!" He raised his dueldisk as well. Archon merely tilted his head, as if he was trying to understand his actions. "Well? Why aren't you.." And then he suddenly released a wave of energy that knocked the duelist down, and he was enveloped in a silver-ish light. "Coming..at me?" Nero stood up again, only to be swallowed by the same light.

Williams LP: 8000 Zakarias's LP: 8000

"How.." Williams Carter attack had failed, ten thousand attackpoints could not even reach this enemy. "Depth Amulet is your answer. The 'controller' of this trap can discard a 'card' to negate any attack. And this card lives for three of your rounds." Chainsaw Insect stood unharmed, instead the Armored Black dragon would have to die. "You removed the limits with that spell, the cost is heavy isn't it?" Will nodded grimly but was not going to give up on it. "Another quickplay spell: Cyberdark Reverse. I can undo the fusion of Cyberdarklings." Cyberdark Dragon was returned to the Fusion deck, Cyberdark Keel (800/800), Edge(800/800) and Horn(800/800) came from the deck to the field, and Rainbow Dragon was sent back to the cemetery. "And you save yourself at the utmost edge before the abyss. Let us not forget that which is binding you to my terms." He pointed at the claw-monster which was still removed from play and holding his leg. "Low life or high life, the end draws for you once the Unredemption has completed."

Zakarias drew a card from his fleshlike dueldisk. "The strategy is a simple one; creations of all kinds that can expedite the process lie in my legion." He summoned a spellcaster-monster this time, a woman of the Light-element. "And there are those that grow stronger from the process, like my Silent Magician(1000/1000). Each drawn 'card' adds half of her original attack to her total strength." He entered the battle phase, Chainsaw Insect came in first. "Ggh, and when that bug does battle, I have to draw..." The grinding saw pincers cut Cyberdark Horn into shrapnel. "You understand." A new card came from Carters disk, luckily not another piece of this twisted puzzle. But Silent Magician LV4 powered up nonetheless(1500/1000). "Attack." She sent magic from her wand to smite Cyberdark Edge, leaving Keel as the last functioning machine. "I will end here." William heard it and entered his draw phase. "Oh no." Unfortunately his next draw was again a card he did not know. _"How many of these did he smuggle into my deck, and how?"_

This time his left hand was shackled down to the hospital roof, giving him little to do with it besides motioning his dueldisk. "These cards.. there are five of them, aren't there?" He asked the villain, who was surprised to get this 'rhetoric'. "You are correct, you saw through that quickly Carter." He smirked. "I can see it now. Four claws for each of the directions, and a center piece to finish me off. This is like the power of Exodia." Except Exodia granted the collector victory, not defeat. "Indeed, when the Unredeemer's name is known and his body is completed, your soul will belong to us. Now ..we continue." Even if he had wanted to do something about this odd combo, he could not think about that if he could not even get passed his monsters. Nothing in his hand could get passed his Depth Amulet. "_One more turn_." He looked at Future Fusion on his field. "Draw." As he drew a card, Silent Magician gained another spellcounter for another attackboost (2000/10000). "I summon Cyber Valley (0/0) in attack mode. And I set a trap card face down."

His turn was over, his hand was empty for the time being. "Another monster answers my call, come out Bistro Butcher." A fiendish chef with a hook for a hand appeared(1800/1000), this card was also and old familiar. "_If that attacks me, I have to draw twice.." _But the first one to attack was Chainsaw Insect, who charged Cyber Valley. "You triggered his effect?" Even Will was surprised he fell for it. "Then I remove Valley from play, to remove your monster as well." The bug and the mechanical serpent both disappeared into a portal to the next dimension. "Quaint decision, you still have to add to your hand." He remarked correctly, Valley gave the controller a new card when it removed itself. "Tsk." Next the Butcher gutted the remaining Cyberdarkling for spare parts, sending 2 more cards to Williams hand. One of those was the third piece of the Unredeemer. "Ah, the north." His other leg was chained down. "Damn it all." And he had nothing left, Silent Magician(3000/1000) had powered up twice due to all the draws and attacked him directly.

Williams LP: 5000

The burning magic sent him back a great deal, almost to the edge of the rooftop. "Ugh. Real energy, just like with the Orichalcos duels." He coughed. "Yes, you have faced this before. But you would do well to remember that those fools from Atlantis were nothing compared to us." Will recovered. "Is that true? Are you so different from those people, are your goals any different?" Zakarias's perpetual smirk almost faded. "They were just mortals praying a to a false god. We have a true god, the Ka is our maker and our teacher. You could not begin to understand his grand design. But to ease your mind before your soul begins its purpose, I will tell you one thing." He tapped the side of his lead helmet. "We are deathless, we are beyond mind heart and mind. Ours is a world of pure life force, yours is a world polluted with id and ego. The only reason you will get to keep your body is to act as an anchor between both realms, your heart stays here, your mind will be ours." His turn was finally over. "I do not think so." Now Carter could attack.

"Future Fusion activates now." The continuous spell was about to summon Chimeratech Overdragon from the fusion deck. "Has that much time passed already? And you selected the Overdragon? I may not know my machines, yet I do believe that card destroys all other cards on your field when it appears." He did not mind that at all, since it would also mean the destruction of Future Fusion. If the spell left the field, the fusion monster would leave as well. "Did you think I came unprepared?" But the duelist flipped his face-down card. "Trap card: Cyber Repairer. My opponent can draw 1 extra card." That was a change of pace. "In exchange for that, none of my machines can be destroyed this turn." Finally Chimeratech appeared on the field, sporting six heads for the six materials that were used for its (delayed) fusion process. Each head added 800 points to the total (4800/4800). His spells were wiped away from the floor. "Future Fusion left the field, but its effect of killing the monster it fused can not affect it anymore."

"You plan to fight back?" Carter nodded, sending the sixheaded machine to attack Zakarias's legion. "It has six heads, so it can attack up to six monsters at once." The first head sent a stream of white energy to decimate the Bistro Butcher, causing 3000 damage to the fiend in one blow. "Not activating Depth Amulet, eh?" He already knew why; a trap that negated attacks was useless against a monster that could attack until everything was dead. He would run out of cards first. "Next your Magician." During the last draw phase the spellcaster had taken in the maximum amount of spellcounters, it(3500/1000) would not go any higher than this. It was still nothing compared to the Overdragon, who obliterated her in an instant. "I am not just fighting back, I am fighting to win this!" His turn was over.

Zakarias's LP: 3700

"That is what 'you' believe." Zakarias drew. And during his standby phase, Depth Amulet destroyed itself. "Yet can you sustain that faith in the face of all adversity?" He summoned another monster, one no duelist saw coming. "Neo-Spacians Glow Moss?" The plant monster from the Neos series was placed down, a card he thought only Nero used. "Every monster serves our case, William." The Moss could attack and force the opponent to draw at the same time. Depending on what he drew, an effect would follow. "This deck is almost..incoherent." He took one card, and showed to his opponent that it was a spell. "Then my monster can strike around yours." Glow Moss attacked Carter directly, inflicting almost no damage. "And now for my own spell: Mind Wipe." He gasped, that card forced William to send all cards in his hand back to the deck, and draw three new cards. "No." One of those was the Southern Claw of the Unredeemed, which shackled his remaining hand. "Closer and closer to the end. The Inevitable end."

Williams LP: 4700

Before his turn was over, Zakarias placed two trap cards face-down on the field. "Yes, the end. But you did not say whose end it was, did you?" He drew a spell from his deck and smirked. "It is time to revive what I was forced to destroy: Overload Fusion!" He could now remove machine materials in the cemetery and fuse together a dark-type machine monster. He removed Edge, Horn and Keel. "Cyberdark Dragon(1500/1000) returns and equips Rainbow Dragon to itself a second time." The four thousand rainbow attackpoints were shared with the black fusion(5400/1000) all over again. "Next I normal summon my newest machine monster: Cyber Dragon Zwei (1500/1000)" A Cyber Dragon appeared, looking a bit different from its original self. "I can reveal a card in my hand to make this cards name 'Cyber Dragon'." He revealed the spell Glow Moss had given him. "Evolution Burst! I also play it" Cyber Dragon Zwei quickly released a burst stream from its mouth. "When 'Cyber Dragon' is on the field, I can kill any one card with this card." The evolution blast destroyed the Moss creature of Zakarias. He chose that thing because it had a 1/3 shot at ending his battle phase prematurely. Plus the less cards he drew, the better.

_Western Claw of the Unredeemed One, 2/300/200 Light/Spellcaster_  
_When this card is added to your hand, it is removed from play. As long as this card is removed from play, you can not concede the game._

_Nothern Claw of the Unredeemed One, 2/300/200 Light/Spellcaster_  
_When this card is added to your hand, it is removed from play. As long as this card is removed from play, you can not concede the game._

_Southern Claw of the Unredeemed One, 2/300/200 Light/Spellcaster_  
_When this card is added to your hand, it is removed from play. As long as this card is removed from play, you can not concede the game._

"..." The enemy had no shields left, no amulets. One attack would resolve this dangerous duel. "Chimeratech Overdragon, attack!" The six heads fired one combined energy beam. "You will not succeed, human. Trap: Half or Nothing." He activated his left face-down, a trap that blocked the beam. "Either you half all your monsters attack, or you end your attacks all together. That is the choice." William flinched. "You know what I will do." Grumbling he accepted cost # 1: Chimeratechs(2400/0) weakened attack then passed through and hit Zakarias. "But another direct attack will still.." Next came the Cyberblack Dragon(2700/1000) and its dark flames. "No, it can not. Second trap: Confusion Chaff!" But that attack only released a blinding light, which blinded the assailant. "This trap forces a second direct attacker to do battle with the first direct attacker." Confused as it were, the fusion turned around and struck Overdragon instead. Cyberdark was the stronger of the two, so Chimeratech died and its controller lost LP. "This is not good.." He still had Cyber Dragon Zwei(750/1000), allthough it's attackpoints were too low to take out all of the enemy's lifepoints. "Final..direct attack." It struck anyway, reducing Zakarias to near zero levels. "Set Trap card, end turn."

Williams LP: 4400 Zakarias's LP: 550

Just then a certain somebody was dropped onto the rooftop. "Ghua!" He coughed up blood. "Nero?!" Will gasped, his friend was in bad shape. "Oh?" Zakarias turned his gaze upwards and saw his floating companion holding the woman in his hands. "You certainly kept me waiting, Archon." The silver knight landed on the floor, tossing the girl aside. "C-curse you." Jacobus managed to spit out. His dueldisk was broken. "You bastards. Why didn't you just.." Zakarias looked back at Will. "Kill him? Because my partner knows I select the souls here, he is merely along for the muscle. The truth is, we never needed Colins soul to complete the portal. We merely need one of the seven who saw our creator." He drew his card. "What..did you say?" Both their eyes widened with a terrifying realization. "I am saying, Carter, you will be the sixth. And your soul will be mine..now!" He played a spell Dark Designator, a spell that allowed the player to send any card from the deck to the opponents hand. "Hear the name of the Unredeemed One!"

"Paradius!"

_Paradius the Unredeemed One, 3/1000/1000 Light/Spellcaster_  
_When this card is added to your hand, it is removed from play. When 'Western Claw of the Unredeemed One', 'Eastern Claw of the Unredeemed One', 'Southern Claw of the Unredeemed One', and 'Nothern Claw of the Unredeemed One', in addition to this card are all removed from play. You lose the game._

The Designator sent the fifth piece to Carters hand. "Carter?" Nero could see the chains now, a fifth appeared to bind the neck. "No!" Zakarias then dispelled the holograms of both Cyberdark and Cyber Dragon, walking up close to his opponent. "You..you.." He looked straight in his face. "Paradius; when all five parts are removed from play...you lose." He snapped his fingers, and a hellish fire covered Wills body from head to tie. "Aaaaagh!" He screamed out loud, the fire burning his disk and all but six cards in his deck to ashes. At the same time, the chains held him in place and zapped his lifepoints to nothingness. "Stop it!" Jacobus cried, to no avail. He wanted to stand up but Archon now held him in place with his foot. "Stop.." A second later William Carter fell to the floor. His body was unharmed, the fire had consumed his soul instead. A small flame swirled in the hand of the fiend. "This will be the sixth." He spread out his hand, and the burning soul shot away into the distance, becoming one with the portal. William Carter was no more.

(To be Continued in New Testament 030: To a Better Place)

**New Cards used by William Carter**  
Cyber Dragon Zwei

**New Cards used by Zakarias**  
Silent Magician LV4  
Bistro Butcher  
Neo-Spacian Glow Moss  
_Western Claw of the Unredeemed One  
Nothern Claw of the Unredeemed One  
Southern Claw of the Unredeemed One  
Paradius, the Unredeemed One_

-  
Mind Wipe  
Dark Designator

-  
Half or Nothing  
Confusion Chaff


	30. To a Better Place

**New Testament 030: To a Better Place**

William Carter's body had lost its soul, he was no longer part of this world. "You monsters." Nero repeated over and over. "You challenged us, this is the only result you could achieve." Zakarias took the six cards that remained in a pile of ashes; the five pieces of Paradius and 'that card'. "Hmph, just another spirit." Timaeus, third of the Atlantian dragons, was just tossed aside by the villain. "Now then, we already have one anchor to replace Colin's soul. We have no need for you. Archon... end him." The silver knight nodded and raised his hand. "Rune.." Nero closed his eyes and braced for the worst. Yet that moment had to wait, for something strange happened to the dragon on the floor. "What?" The Timaeus card released a wide burst of blue energy, that knocked Zakarias down and Archon into the air. As if it had gotten angry over its masters death. "What mockery." The unredeemed villain got up and moved to crush it under his foot, when another intrusion appeared. A helicopter appeared. "Who dares to attack us now?"

Though this was not the one Nero had used to get here, this was a military vessel. "!" They wasted no time to unload several dozen missiles on the rooftop. Archon dispatched these with a magnetic field, though that did not stop them from exploding and clouding the building in a smoke screen. "A distraction?" Zakarias turned around and saw that Nero was once again running, even though he was gravely injured. And with his partner busy with the projectiles, it was up to him to follow the runner. "You will not escape!" He summoned dozens of chains into the smoke, trying to catch anything or anyone. But he could not even find one soul. "Curse this obtrusion." With a gesture he whisked the black dust away, and saw what had really happened. "You wretches." Another helicopter was there, the one Nero had used.

Cable was steering it, and Christine had extended a rope ladder for Nero to climb on. The girl who was supposed to be the seventh victim was also rescued. "We still need William!" Rose shouted, but then she saw his body. Archon meanwhile managed to dismantle the attacking helicopter. "..?" Only to realize nobody was actually inside, it was manually controlled. Cable had come here with this vessel and switched over to the non-army chopper before attacking. "Rune Zeta!" Immediately he turned around, pointed at the sky and a bright golden flash filled the city. "What the heck?" Cable and Christine realized their helicopter was standing still. "A seal?" It was trapped within a magic circle, suspended above the city. "Oh no, they are coming." Both servants flew towards them. "They.. killed William?" Only now did Christine realize the extent of their atrocities. "Then." She held something close to her chest, and put on her dueldisk. "Wait,..rose? Wh-what." Before Nero could stop her, she had stepped out of the vehicle, standing on the magic seal.

"No, do not duel him! They are too strong. He will.. invade your deck with.. something you can not beat. And the other.." He was in too much pain to say more. "Stop!" She shouted as the two came within range. "Stop? Because you asked us?!" Zakarias also stepped on the seal, smirking. "No. Because you only need one more soul, so come and claim mine." She activated her dueldisk. "She can not be.." Cable had an idea as to what her plan was. "What makes you out faith in the worth of your soul, Rose?" She smiled too now, but it was a strained smile. "I have this." She revealed her necklace, and what hung from it. "If you let them go, you can have this as well when you defeat me." It was the Puzzle. "What?" Zakarias was astonished. "What? You think you can not win against someone who has this Item?" She asked, aggresively. "You tread a thin line, but your proposition seems fair enough. However.." He glared at Archon, who in return snapped his fingers. "What?" Another flash happened, they were back on the hospital rooftop.

"Guys!?" The helicopter was free from the rune circle as well now. "Oh boy." Only it lost altitude at a fast rate, the seal had disruped its engines. "Crap. This landing wont be pleasant!!" Cable could not get the thing up in time, and the chopper went down in the distance. No explosion followed, yet she could not tell if they made it out okay. "Why did you do that?" She cursed. "Not so strong of will now? We only did what you asked; we let them go." He did not think it was their fault they could not regain control. "Regardless of complaints, the terms are inescapable now. Your soul and that puzzle belong to me, once the Unredeemed One declares its name." He again activated his disk. "Then I will ask you for a counter-gift." She inserted her deck. "If I defeat you, you will give William back to me." She demanded, looking at Carters soulless shell behind the enemy. He looked back as well, wondering what she would want with a corpse. "..Agreed." Archon meanwhile watched from the air, not making a move unless Zakarias told him to.

Zakarias's LP: 8000 Christine's LP: 8000

"As they saw nowadays: Duel!" He took five cards. "I shall begin." She said and drew six cards from her deck. "Very well." Zakarias seemed difficult to upset, and full of confidence. "_But what did Nero say again?"_ She remembered something about 'invading the deck'. "I play a spell, Reinforcement of the Army. I can add any level 4 warrior to my hand." That was her gain, but not really her ultimate goal. She really wanted to search her deck for something else. "Already?" And there they were, five cards that had not been in her deck before, four claws and one head of the Unredeemed One. "So your dying friend managed to reveal a clue to you about my dueling style? Is that what gives you the gall to attack the creations of Ka?" The opponent's grin was growing wider. "How could I not attack you." She hissed. " The question: how he managed to get his cards in her deck would probably not be answered. "I pick Kings Knight." She chose her warrior and reshuffled the deck. "I set one monster card face down and end my turn."

"The King/Queen/Jack combo?" Zakarias inquired, shocking her. "Yes, we told your friends, we know everything about you. So do not be surprised if.." He played a spell: Card Destruction, forcing her to discard 5 cards and draw 5 new ones. "All your strategies are dismantled before your eyes." She had to throw away both the King and Queen warriors, along with a trap, an equip spell and Rjak Baker. Unluckily her new cards included.. "Heh." The Nothern Claw appeared in her hand was removed from play automatically. "One down." Her leg was chained to the roof. "Slowly you will know how your comrade felt, before his life gained purpose." Then he summoned the Chainsaw Insect(2400/0), another monster that pained Will in his last moments. "Your defender is next to die." First she had to draw another card because the Insect did battle with her monsters. Then the chainsaws of the bug ripped through her set card. "You destroyed Familiar Knight!" She yelled. "Now both players summon one level 4 monster from their hand."

She had planned to summon the Queen with this, but now she would have to settle for Diane Baxter, the Medic(1900/1200). "And I will summon Destiny Hero Defender Guy(100/2700). In defense mode naturally." Even Destiny Heroes were in Zakarias's legion apparently, though only this one since it too forced the opponent to draw cards. "Turn end." In the standby phase, Diane increased her masters lifepoints, while Defender let her draw a monster from her hand. "_Jacks Knight, some use it is to me now_." However she had plenty of good cards to open the attack with. "I play a spell card: Earthquake!" The ground beneath them started to rumble, all attack-mode monsters trembled into a defensive stance. "Oh?" An insect with zero defense was unable to survive in this mode. "Next I normal summon Zane Baker(1800/1900)."

Christine's LP: 8500

Zakarias seemed unimpressed. "And now I will show you what you could not have predicted. I sacrifice Zane for a special summon: Turret Warrior!" The healer was removed, in her place came a monster that looked like a rock tower with limbs and turrets(1200/2000). "What is this?" Indeed this was new, she never used this before. "This is a warrior that is special summoned with a warrior-tribute. It will gain the attackpoints of said tribute." The tower warrior powered up by 1800 points (3000/2000). "More than enough to get rid of your Defense." She switched Diane to attack mode. "Take this!" The healer injected the Insect with enough needles to kill it ten times over. And all of the Turrets on her new Warrior reduced Defende to rocks and rubble. "Fool." Yet as she had done battle with the chainsaw bug, she again had to draw a card. And again it was one of the five. The Head of Paradius appeared in her hand and was removed from play. "Gghk." Her neck was in shackles. "This is nothing. I will duel as long as I can draw breath."

"You have not even touched me. As it should be. Now behold." In his turn he played a new spell card. "The Equipment: Monster Annexation." It was equiped to Turret Warrior, which started to walk over to Zakarias's side to the shock of her former owner. "What belonged to you, now serves me for as long as this spell persists." So it was like a new version of Snatch Steal. And with a new strong servant, he decided to remove the weak. "Destroy that warrior who has no place in dueling records." The turrets blasted away until Diane was reduced to a fine powder. "This spell has an upside for you, Rose. During of of your 'standby phases' you get to draw 1 card from your deck." Now she understood why he would use a card like this. "Set a 'card', and move on to your round." As promised, the dueldisk gave her two cards before the Main Phase, during the draw and standby phases. _"Card Blocker.. and Union Attack?" _There were no claws to be found, but nothing that could kill Turret Warrior either. "I set a card and I.."

Christine's LP: 7400

_Monster Annexation, Equip Spell  
__Take control of a monster on your opponent's side of the field that is equipped with this card.  
__The equipped monster card can not be tributed. During your opponent's Standby Phase, your opponent draws 1 card._

She was about to summon something, but at this point a trap was chained. "Permanent trap card: By Order of the Emperor." An oppressive shadow towered over her field. "Tsk: Card Blocker!" She normal summoned it anyway, only now the trap went in effect. "When Blocker is summoned it can switch to..hey?" And she found that her monster did not use it's defense-shifting powers. It could not. "You can not ignore my trap: Every time an effect is activated during a normal summon, I can choose to negate it and give the opponent a random draw instead." She flinched, not only was she wide open with this weak attack-mode monster(400/400), she also played straight into his combo. "Draw." Luckily she drew a spell, which she immediately placed face down. "Then attack me if you want." Her turn was over.

"And we do." Turret Warrior attacked the Shield Monster. "It's other effect will still work however!" When attacked, Blocker would discard the top 3 cards from her deck to boost his defense by 500 for each card. It would not help her LP, but it was a way to possibly discard some unwanted cards from her deck. "You put faith in the gods of chance and fortune?" Alas as fate would have it, she only discarded Genji Sword, Guy-Lin and Drain Shield. "Not even one?" The three Claws remained in her deck, and now a heavy blow hit her. "Gggh, spell card!" As the turrets ripped through her monster, she activated the quickplay: Sons to the Rescue. "When a warrior-monster is killed, I can revive two monsters from the graveyard: Rjak and Zane Baker." The two sons of John were once again on her frontline, elder(1900/1800) and younger(1800/1900) son. "Just more manmade monstrocities. Of all the duelists who have seen our Lord, you seem the most fond about trampling on our legacy." He ended his turn. "Your legacy?" She drew a card.

Christine's LP: 4800

"Does that legacy give you the right to use human lives like this?" Thanks to Annexation she drew again. "Still so selfish, not ready to accept the greater view on the world." Zakarias fumed. "I do not care! What you are doing is not right!" She had enough, and played a spell: Union Attack. "No matter what world you are from!" The spell allowed Rjak and Zane to combine their forces into one attack(3700/1900). Rjak raised his empowered sword and cut down the stolen Turret Warrior. "And yet your words nor your strikes can reach me, Rose." The downside to this spell was that no damage would be transferred to the opponent, only the monster would die. "They will!"She then sacrificed both sons for a level 7-monster. "John Baker!" The father of the family was tribute summoned(2000/2000), however that reactivated 'By Order of the Emperor'. "You can not use his effect either!" She was forced to add a card to her hand, and it was the Southern Claw of the Unredeemed One, which shackled her hand. "You can not do anything, human!"

Somewhere in the city, noise finally came from the crash site. "Is everyone allright?" Before the chopper had slammed into the streets, they jumped out when they were close enough to the ground. "Yeah. As far as I wasf before I got on." Nero coughed, he was sitll in pretty bad shape from the fight with Archon. "She is still alive too." He had managed to keep the comatose girl alive with his own body. "But why Cable? Why is she doing this, hy is she risking the Puzzle and her own Life!?" he asked him, loudly. "Nero, calm down. We know what we are risking. Her soul is on the line yes, but she has a trump card or two. And..."

He whispered the last part. "That is not the real Puzzle."

(To be Continued in New Testament 031: Planets Revenge)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**Familiar Knight  
Turret Warrior

**New Cards used by Zakarias  
**Card Destruction  
_Monster Annexation_

-  
By Order of the Emperor


	31. The Planets Revenge

**New Testament 031: The Planet's Revenge**

"What did you say?" Nero just heard the unbelievable: Christine was using a fake Millenium Puzzle! "We had this planned. When we found out that Elias is indeed a descendant, and his duel with Cleo had brought out some kind of energy from the real puzzle, we wanted to use that to throw off the enemy. What she is using right now is the same equipment Lydia used to jam Prospero's future sight. Except to them it will look like she is dueling with the magic inside the actual puzzle." It was a bit too complicated to explain here. "And perhaps, we were also hoping for a miracle. To see if this connection could draw out the spirit of the Pharaoh himself." He shook his head, not just due to the headache. "It was a long shot, we never got to test the device given what little time we had. I am not sure if it will pay off. But Christine wanted to come along above anyone else." It was either her or Colin, and he was the last person that needed to lose his soul to the enemy. "I never expected her to take this it so severely however."

Just then the radio inside the crashed helicopter sprung to life. "Hello? Can anyone hear us?" Marcus's voice sounded from the other side of the line. "What? That thing survived the crash?" Cable groaned but managed to get up, taking the communicator. "Yes, yes. We're here, and still alive. We managed to save one of the people from the hospital. But...." He had to give them the bad news too. "I am affraid Will did not make it, they took his soul." The only one on the other side to actually gasp was Colin. "What? Why did they want him?" Lydia and Marcus were only surprised a little. "How tragic. But if his body is still intact we might still be able to save him." Simmons looked over his monitors. "But more importantly, we are still receiving data from our pseudo-puzzle, so someone must be using it right now." Fraser nodded. "Yes, it was Christine, I could not stop her. But do you receive any special readings?!" To his question came only a sigh. "I can not say, so far we have not had a single response. I fear it did not work after all."

Christine's LP: 4800 Zakarias's LP: 8000

John Baker was summoned, Rose's signature card, but its effects were negated by the enemy's continuous trap: By the Order of the Emperor. Furthermore, she was forced to draw again and bind her hand to the Unredeemed combo. "Two claws remain, human. And your deck is already down to half of its original size. You will die before you can even get close to defeating me." She glared at him and ended her turn without setting anything else. "Relying on one monster?" He drew again, looked at his hand and smirked. "Then I shall do the same. I hide one monster in a defensive stance." He then took the three cards his hand still held. "I shall also hide these, traps that your mind can concern itself with." His hand was empty and his field was filled with face-down cards. "I assume you wanted to equip your monster with his sword or shield, to protect it against our harmful curses and spells. Alas, all of your cards are known to us. Not even your strongest power can break free of these chains." He seemed to be done with his turn.

"Draw." From her deck came an equipment spell, John's Armor. "I may not be able to add them to my hand, but I can still draw them like any other duelist! I equip John with the Battle Armor, now he is unaffected by any trap card and his stats rise by 300 points." It seemed Zakarias's prediction came true, somewhat. "I also play this spell from my hand: Brotherly Love." Her lifepoints dropped by a thousand. "I can pay LP to special summon 'Bill Baker' from my deck, if 'John Baker' is on the field." Now both brothers stood together, the elder(2300/2300) and the younger(2200/2000). "I do not fear you, or your combo! And now it is time to return the pain you hand out so readily!" John gathered energy in his hands and fired it away in a beam headed for the set monster. "Reveal the Traps!" Yet despite his immunities, he flipped his facedown cards anyway. "Gift of Greed: My adversary can draw from her deck twice. And I will use two Gifts!" She was stunned. "What?" A total of four cards were given to her, one of them was bad news.

Christine's LP: 3800

"Gah!" She screamed as the Western Claw was removed from play, right after she drew it. "One to go." Meanwhile Johns beam continued, making her wonder why he would activate these traps now. She soon found out why. "Morphing Jar?" Baker had destroyed the facedown and it was the metamorphic pod monster(700/600). "Now both players must throw away their hand and make a new one." She had to discard all seven cards, some of which would really have helped her in this duel. However she could draw five new ones. "Bill can still attack!" And she pressed on, sending the younger Baker to slash across the fiend with his sword. "So he could." He was knocked back a bit, it was the first time she actually got a hit in on him. "But you now realize how close you are to death, in your deck remains a mere dozen and the last part of Paradius." Only the East lied in waiting. "Meanwhile you need three more rounds like these to take my life away." He was right, her deck was running thin. "Main phase 2.."

Zakarias's LP: 5800

But thanks to the Jar, she had an answer for that. "I play Pot of Avarice. I can draw two cards, if I send five monsters in my grave back to the deck." This would slow down the combo, she thought. "You forget, Rose. We know everything, we saw that spell coming." Sadly he countered with a counter. "Trap: Dark Bribe. Your spell willcease to function, while your deck hands you one more card. Begrudgingly she accepted that card. "Fairy of the Spring." She played a spell to get back another. "I can add 1 equip card from the grave to my hand, but it can not be used this turn." She used it to add Johns Sword of Light back to her hand. "My turn is over." She said, seemingly having lost her high spirits once again. "So you see, again you failed to make a mark. Whereas I never let up. Let us take this to the end." He drew and chuckled. "Magical Stone Excavation, I shall retake a spell at a cost." He discarded two random cards from his hand. "I claim Card Destruction!" He took that back and played it immediately. "!!!!"

She had six cards in her hand, she had to throw away all of them and draw six new cards. "The stakes are high and.." Zakarias exchanged only three cards. "...fortune favors you." He already realized she had no Claw in her hand, because nothing from her hand was removed. "Six times.. Let us try this again: Hand Destruction!" This time he played the instant magic, to discard 2 cards from each hand and draw 2 new ones. "Damn it." She discarded Art of the Doppelganger and Kataryken Rjak Baker. "Do it." Only four cards remained in the disk, she was cutting her chances in half every time. "Gyah!" She pulled them out quickly, and miraculously the Eastern Claw still did not appear. "Grrr. You seem to be the most blessed of all that faced the Unredeemer." He placed one card in his hand face-down in the magic/trap zone and ended his turn. "Yet now there are but two choices: swift death or more agony. Go ahead, begin your round." Two cards inside, one the Eastern Claw. A 50/50 shot. _"How did I let it get this far?"_

She was affraid, this was nothing new. But this was a fear unlike any other, she felt in control of her fate and yet she did not. Not even Jacob had made her feel like this. "I.." She gulped, it had to be done. And nothing she could say or do was gonna change what was on the other side of that card. "If you can not, then let me end it for you." Zakarias said, almost pleasantly. "No! I can..I have to do this!" Her eyes were closed, she could not face what was about to happen. The sounds or silence would be tortureous enough. "Draw!" And then she did it, a strange sensation ran through the nerves in her arm.

"Wait. What is happening." Back at the lab Marcus looked up at the monitor. "That is new, right?" Lydia and Prospero saw readings that went through the roof, the graph was more active than ever. "What does this mean?" Colin asked. "It means that the thing is actually working: the fake Puzzle." But its methods was not exactly as he intended. "The signals it is giving off, they are not coming from her, or this place." He traced the source, but he already knew where it came from. "That is..the orphanage?" The source of the energy was located at Elias's place, more accurately. "It is coming from the Pharaoh himself."

While this was exciting news to some, others were understandably shocked. Because the 'source' did not look like a mere energy reading up close. "What the heck!?" Elias was still wondering why his visitors were ignoring him, when the puzzle in his hands started to glow like a lightbulb. "What did you give me!?" He freaked out, tossed it aside. "What is wrong, are you hurt?" The housekeeper asked immediately. "No. But it felt.. odd, and warm." He looked at the puzzle, whose glow was fading. "Whoa." Ceasar, who was transmitting the signal to Marcus, saw the same 'unchartable' numbers. "It reacted after all, to the experiment." Elias heard this. "Experiment? What experiment1? What are you not telling me!" He grabbed Ceasar by the collar. "Calm down Gaines, you do not want to do this in front of the children." Jackson stepped in and grabbed him by the arm. "You are hiding something. I want to know about it now!" He pulled himself loose. Doe looked at Caine. "Well, let him know the truth." She shrugged. "Very well."

_"Not it?" _Impossible, Christine failed to draw the Claw again. The last part was at the bottom of her deck all along? "When did... How did" This kind of luck was not human. "The puzzle." Archon suddenly said, coming closer to watch its activity. "She can somehow use the Pharaoh's spirit after all?" He turned back to her. "It shall not do you any good now, next turn is your last." He laughed, but she did that too. "If I have to die next turn, I will do it on my own terms. Spell Card: Arms Hole." She played a spell and took the top card from her deck. "Hey?!" Which she tossed into the cemetery. "I can discard the top card on my deck, and add one equip to my hand from the deck or grave." She again added Sword of Light to her hand. "My deck is gone, but so is your combo." She smiled. "You..killed..Paradius." He twitched.

She equiped John with the Sword(2800/2300), making him immune to spells too. "Attack!" She sent both John and Bill Baker to attack him directly. "Bah.." He took the first attack because John could not be trapped, but Bill he used Depth Amulet. "Then die in your way, but do not even think you can take me down with those monsters!" He discarded a card for the Amulet, which stopped the younger brother. "I did not even need to do that, those weak attacks would not have beaten me anyway, not in this turn." He said confidently, yet his voice was trailing. "Yet you did. I think you fear something after all, servant of Ka." She activated her final equip spell: Shield of Light, which made John(3000/2500) immune to monster effects. "Fear? You!? HA!" And then she sacrificed John Baker, along with his equipment, for the Kataryken John Baker-card in his graveyard(4000/4000). He inherited all of Johns spells too(5000/4500). "Even your strongest monster is too late." He did not seem to question why she waited to summon this before attacking.

Zakarias's LP: 3000

"I know. But my hand still has some cards left: this one you should pay attention to." She showed a normal spell called 'Lifeforce Nova'. "This is what I drew instead of the Eastern Claw during the draw phase. It is a spell that only Katarykens can use, in exchange for their normal battle phase." She placed it on the field, Kataryken John Baker raised his hands into the sky. "Like in the books they are based on, Katarykens can ask for power from all of humanity, as a last resort. I must discard two monsters from my hand, to feed their life to the Nova." She discarded Guy-Lin, Drunken Warrior (2000 atk) and Andrea Baker (2100 atk). "The Nova is forming?!" The energy from the cards joined together and formed a sphere above Kataryken. It even had its own attackpower(4100 atk). "The Nova has the power of the discarded monsters. And when this spell is thrown, all monsters on the field die and the opponent loses lifepoints equal to the sacrifice Life forces." Zakarias was left speechless, he had less LP than that attack. "It is over for you."

_Lifeforce Nova, Normal Spell  
__You can only activate this card while there is a face-up 'Kataryken John Baker' on your side of the field. That monster card can't attack during the turn you activate this card.  
__Discard 2 monster cards from your hand. Destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the discarded monsters combined ATK._

"You can not mean this, you can not kill me! You are just a human!!" He looked around nervously. "I can, and I will. I do not care about your kind, what you are, where you came from. You can go back to that dimension, and give Carter back to ours!" Kataryken John released the energy ball at last. "No, you wretched girl. Archon, Archon help me!" He had become desperate enough to ask his subordinate for help, yet he just stood there. "Ahah. Loyal to the creator until the end? You need me Archon!" The silver knight did not even look at him. "Damn it, damn it all! This is not over, girl! We are not mortal, this will not kill us!!!" The blast impacted with the field at last, enveloping Zakarias and the other in a fierce light. "You have done nothing, you only delayed the inevitable! Ahahahaha." He was in a direct line of the attack, it consumed his flesh and his armor whole. But still he screamed. "And you can have him, your friend! Too bad you never... said.. what part...of him...you wante.."

Zakarias's LP: 0

(To be Continued in New Testament 032: A Silver Lining)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Lifeforce Nova_

**New Cards used by Zakarias  
**Morphing Jar

-  
Magical Stone Excavation

-  
Gift of Greed  
Dark Bribe


	32. A Silver Lining

**New Testament 032: A Silver Lining**

"..." The unknown man in the van had been the only survivor of the Zakarias-genocide, most likely because he knew things nobody else did. Right now he was driving towards the city that the two otherworldy servants headed for, but he stopped suddenly when something happened inside. ".....?!?" He stepped outside and walked to the back of the van, opening the doors. He noticed something was missing. "Key?" He spoke for the first time in a long time, literally. Dust came with every breath. "Key!?" He frantically searched the vehicle inside and out, but did not find the small key. "Not .. possible."

Zakarias's LP: 0

They key was not here, instead it could be found in the rubble where once stood a deadly foe. Zakarias the Iron pillar was no more, his body had been dissolved by Christine's final spell: Lifeforce Nova. Rose had won, yet her price was not what she wanted. "What did he..mean?" With his last words, the enemy delivered a warning that haunted her. "I did not ask what part of him I wanted? What!?" She quickly ran over to the body of William Carter, she did not even see the odd key. "No! No!!" He was still unconscious, there was no pulse. "NO! He lied!! He promised to give him back to me, if I beat him!" Those were her terms, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she had won. "You lied to me! All of you!!" Why did this happen, why did William remain gone? "Was it because I did not ask for his soul? That is wrong, he knew what I wanted, he knew that the body alone was not going to.." She finally turned to the one who was still there: Archon the silver knight. "Answer me! Where is he, where is William? Why is he not back!?"

The knight looked at her, at the body of William, and the smouldering Lifeforce induced crater. "He was chosen." She finally had his attention. "The body is the anchor." He pointed at the sky. "To your world, to the light." Then he pointed at her, specifically her shadow. "He is beneath us, like we once were. No escape is possible, the road goes but one way." What he meant to say was that he could not get him out, none of them could. "You never planned to release them." She tried to hide her tears as she turned her eyes away from the body. "The Lord of Ka rests on seven pillars, we need seven souls to sanction the crossing of our creator. The human known as William Carter put his own existence on the line." Despite hearing all of this, Rose could not help but smile. "My, are you not talkative all of the sudden." After all she had just beaten one of these people. "But I heard your buddy talk about the portal as well. He said something like 'only I can steal the lives and use them to strengthen the portal.' Is that not true?"

Archon seemed to be nodding, it was hard to tell with his armor. "The task of the Lead Pillar was to form the gate. The task of the Silver Pillar is different." Suddenly, as if he had stopped time, he appeared in front of her and caressed the puzzle that hung around her neck. "!!!" She stumbled backwards, gaining some distance between the two. "No, you can not have this!" Christine stood up again, and raised her dueldisk. "You will have to duel me for it, if you want to win the Puzzle. The same terms apply to you." She felt nervous yet confident, the Puzzle had given her some good luck already. Perhaps it would do so again. "..." Archon seemed to take some time with his decision. "If I win, you will have to give him back to me, all of them! I do not know how, just make it so!" This time she would not be fooled, no play of words would cheat the souls away. "Accepted." He summoned a disk too, it materialized out of his armor like it was made from liquid metal. Christine activated her disk too, and at that moment the pseudo puzzle started to glow again.

"You expect me to believe all of this?" Elias had just heard the whole story. Their reason for being here, the true nature of the Millenium Puzzle in his hands, and the things his ancestors apparently had done. "Even if it is true what tyou say about my great grandfather, which is the least incredulous sentence in your speech, how does that make me a target? I do not even know him, let alone that he..." He looked at the item once more. "He stole this treasure from some tomb. What was the Pharaoh's name again?" Cleo looked at Jackson. "Raness. The name of the spirit inside that object is called Raness. Your great grandfather did not just rob the temple through luck, he was chosen to succeed." Gaines still looked skeptic. "Look, did you not feel anything strange at all, about that puzzle? When you dueled me, you must have felt something." Cleo stated. Because she knew Ceasar had gotten some odd readings from the match, which were comparable to odd flash energy. "I thought it was just a trick, from this gadget. Like that flash, which made me.."

Just then the same thing happened, the puzzle's golden glow erupted in a blast of shining energy. "Gah!" This time Elias held on. "You did it again!" Ceasar and Madlyn looked at the monitor in the suitcase. "Does this mean someone is using the fake Puzzle again?" The girl asked. "Appears like it. We definitely need to return to headquarters to actually see what is going on." There was only one problem with that. "We need him too." She whispered. Everyone glared at Elias. "What? I am not coming with you people, not until you tell me the truth." He scoffed. "We DID tell you. Gah!!" Caine hissed. "Well if you do not believe words, maybe he should see what is going on right now?" Ceasar smirked. "How is that? He probably will not follow us anywhere.." She was saying, but then he pointed at the building. "Easy. Watch the news.."

"I was affraid of this." Marcus saw it too now, one channels news station was reporting the sudden blackout in the city that the enemy had attacked. "The world will soon know something happened there." He shook his head. "Can't the government stop it?" Colin wondered. "I am affraid Cable was the one with the contact to them. Even if he did tell anybody on his way there, they won't understand before they see it with their own eyes. Along with the rest of the common folk." He sighed. "Let us just hope that Christine can use the fake Puzzle to win again, and save the soulless before panic breaks out."

Christine's LP: 8000 Archon's LP: 8000

She did. "_It worked again_." She thought as all five starting cards ended up in her hand. "_I thought about them, and here they are_." The puzzle did this for her, or rather the original puzzle that this fake was stealing energy from. It literally changed her chances. "I will start!" She said to the enemy. She did not want to let this chance go to waste. "Very well." And Archon seemed chivalrous enough to pass the first turn to a lady. "Draw!" Her sixth card was just an extra bonus for her destructive combo. "I activate Arms Hole, the spell card! I can discard one card from the top of my deck to add an equip spell to my hand." She discarded John Baker from the top of her deck and took Johns Sword of Light. "Next I play Monster Reborn to revive John Baker!" Her main card returned to the field. His effect sent another equipment from the deck to her hand. "I pick Shield of Light!" Then she played all equipment spells in her hand, the Sword, Shield and Battle Armor (which was already in her hand) all ended up equipped to John. "Kataryken!"

So she was ready to sacrifice John for his ultimate form, Kataryken John Baker. He inherited all armanents of course(5000/4500). "Next comes.." She had three cards left in her hand, Archon knew one of those had to be the Nova. "I play the spell: Lifeforce Nova!" She grinned. "I discard two monsters from my hand, to inflict damage to your lifepoints equal to their attack!" She discarded the other two Katarykens from her hand, Kataryken Rjak Baker (2900 atk) and Zane Baker (2800 atk). A sphere of life energy appeared above Johns hands, gathering their energy(5700 atk). "Eat this!" The Nova was thrown towards the silver knight. "!" He braced for impact, shielding his face with both his hands. The light engulfed him completely, producing a blast even bigger than the one that defeated Zakarias. "What is that!?" This time even Nero and Cable could see the explosion, and they knew where it came from. "That has to be Christine! But does that mean she is winning..or.." They just had to go back there, they could not leave Rose to her fate.

Archon's LP: 2300

"Did you like that?" Christine wheezed, she lost a lot of energy herself for some reason. "Half-gone without even getting a turn. That is what you are up against, that is the power of life!" She waited for a response, for the smoke to clear. "Half?" And his voice broke through not too long afterwards. "If all you have to offer me is half.." The dust settled, revealing the target. "... than you are misusing the power." He was completly unscathed, his armor did not have a single mark. "What?" She knew he was not beaten yet, but she expected at least a little damage. "The power?" She held the pseudo-item. "You had a golden oppurtunity, to drink the power of gods. Yet you squandered it on a spell that could not kill me." Her turn was over, she had nothing else. "It was a waste, now comes the retaliation." He drew his sixth card. "You can try." She was not that upset, what with her five-thousand attacker, and his immunity to all effects. "That is the difference, Christine Rose. You try, I do." He played a spell from his hand, an even fiercer light shone.

"Ride of the Valkyries."

Now she had to shield her eyes from the bright rays, which shot through the clouds. "What are.." Sounds came from up above, hooves clapping and swords swinging. "Those are.." Three women appeared, wearing armor similar to Archon's, wielding swords and shields. They came in riding on horses, horses that could fly without wings. "This spell allows a player to summon all the Valkyries he has at his command, within my hand were three." He pointed at each of them. "Valkyrie Erste(1600/1800) and Valkyrie Zweite(1600/1600)." There were two of the latter, one of the former. "Zweite's effect activates first, as it was summoned first. One monster on the field must die." The blonde-haired knight channeled energy from her sword towards Kataryken. "But he is immune to monster effects!" She protested. "Only because of his Battle Armor." He snapped his finger and a quickplay spell in his hand was activated. "Spell Shattering Arrow." An arrow of light came from his hand, it pierced all the equipment on John Baker at once. "Oh No!" And The Sword of Light could only stop normal magic, not instant magic. "The Living Arrow shatters all spells and sends damage to their master." Three of her spells were shot down by the spell, she lost 500 LP for each.

Christine's LP: 6500

_Ride of the Valkyries, Normal Spell  
__Special summon as many 'Valkyrie' monsters from your hand as possible. Return all monsters summoned by this effect to your deck at the end of the turn.  
__If this card is in your hand during your endphase, add all the cards in your hand to your deck and shuffle it. Then draw the same number of cards that you added to your deck._

_Valkyrie Zweite, 5/1600/1600 Light/Fairy  
__When this card is succesfully special summoned from your hand, destroy 1 face-up monster on the field._

_Valkyrie Erste, 5/1600/1800 Light/Fairy  
__Once per turn you can remove from play 1 monster in your opponent's graveyard.  
The original ATK of this card becomes the original ATK of the removed monster until the end of the turn. _

"Now." Zweite's killing blow finally struck the unprotected Baker, sending him to the grave. "Next I resolve the effect of Erste." The silver-haired knight struck next, plunging her sword into the ground. "Erste can remove one monster in the cemetery, and claim its attackpoints." Christine gasped, she was removing the card that just died! "Now she (4000/1800) has the power you used against me. And your field has no more guards." All three Norse knights raised their swords. "You sacrificed everything for your friend, for revenge and offense. Your judgment was wrong." They started to circle around her, creating a fierce whirlwind filled with rose petals. "Let this be the end; direct attack!" The trio struck, delivering a total of 7200 battle damage to the unfortunate girl. Her disk was torn to shreds and her cards scattered across the sky.

Christine's LP: 0

Nero who ran back to the hospital saw the cards falling to the streets. "No!" he could only fear the worst. He could not see what state she was in from down here. "I.." She slumped to her knees, blood coming from various cuts on her arms and face. "..failed." She was about to pass out, but Archon appeared in front of her once more, holding her up by the chin. "True." In a snap, he yanked the chain from her neck, and took the puzzle away from her. "You did not succeed, because you mocked the gods." He then proceeded to crush the thing with his hands, shocking her enough to keep her awake. "You knew?" He noticed the puzzle was fake, when did he find out? "Ever since you first tapped into the source. Yet rest assured, I do not take souls needlessly. You will live.." He let her go and turned away. "Zakarias was taken in by the charade, and now the gate can not be completed from this side. Yet my task still waits, the creator demands it." She struggle to look at him to talk to him. "Then why.. why did you accept?"

Archon did not even glance back, she was no longer a threat to keep an eye on. "To experience and subsequently find the source." He started floating, keeping a the center piece of the fake puzzle in his hands. "The power to bend destiny could only have come from one man. The only man that can stop the Creator." Her concerns grew even more.... because that man had to be.. "The Pharaoh of the Puzzle, the one who cursed our kind all those years ago. My mission is to kill him, before he rejoins the world of light." He seemed to be looking over the horizon, over a distance no mortal could oversee. "But..but.." She did not understand, how could he kill the Pharaoh, if he was not even alive? "You found 'him'. We thank you for shortening the searching procedure.." The answer was brutally simple, they would kill Elias.

(To be Continued in New Testament 033: Hide from the Moon)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**Monster Reborn

**Cards used by Archon  
**_Valkyrie Erste  
__Valkyrie Zweite_

_-  
__Ride of the Valkyries (+)  
_Spell Shattering Arrow

_(+) All of Archon's cards are based on the Valkyrie set used by Ziegfried in the YGO KC Grand Prix arc_


	33. Hide from the Moon

**New Testament 033: Hide from the Moon**

"Yes I would be delighted to inform you properly, sir. But unfortunately we do not have a lot of time right now." Said Marcus as he was on the phone with someone from the government. "No I do not know where or when you can reach Cable, he is 'out' right now." When they could not contact their main messenger, they of course went after the one who had caused a similar mess in the past. "Look what I need you to do right now, is to clam down on the news stations. So far the general populace knows little, and so do those reporters. It is in your best interest to stop them before a panic breaks out." The voice on the other end finally seemed to calm down. "Yes, we are doing our best with the situation. The general will send reinforcements soon, it will all be taken care off. Just.. make sure nobody gets an interest in that city."

Marcus finally put the phone down. "Trouble, boss?" Prospero asked. "Nothing they can not handle, they covered up bigger problems before." The news stations right now still had little to go on, nobody had reached the city yet. "Well what's the cover-up story going to be this time? You can't use a disease or nervous gas twice." Colin quipped, earning a glare from Lydia. "Don't underestimate the stupidity of people Sairve, they will believe anything. I mean they believe the readings of a phony fortune teller like you." She snapped. "If I was not on your side, I would prove you wrong right now." Instead he turned to Simmons. "So you said the army is sending in extra troops?" His response however was to shake his head. "That is not a conversation I looked forward too, not after the Conroy ordeal. Not that it matters since I can not reach them. I just told that to the minister to settle his nerves. Besides..." He looked at the camera feed. "Even if we send in more, they will just be fodder. Our best hope is the Puzzle's powers."

"Rose! Rose!!" Nero finally made it to the top of the hospital. Out of breath he shouted and looked for her, when he found her sitting near the edge of the building. "Chistine!" She was hurt, surrounded by shattered metal and broken gold, but still alive. However the same could not be said for William, his body was still in the same spot. "Oh no." He looked as lifeless as when he left him, his soul was still gone. "What happened?" He wondered to himself. Looking up he saw Archon, who looked away from him. But the other was nowhere to be seen, the one who had taken Carters life. "I.." Rose noticed Nero. "I.. I could not save him." She managed to say, shivering. "I beat him, but he did not give Will back." As he heard her, the sadness in her tone, he felt a bit of anger returning. "Hey!" He took it out on the one presence that deserved it. "Hey you!" Nero shouted at the armored one, yet he seemed to be ignoring the duelist. "What are you doing!" Only now did he realize he was chanting some form of spell, using another rune.

Only then he stopped. "Rune Omicron Terminated." The energy in front of him disappeared. The scan was over, he had a direction. "I...found him." Rose flinched, he could not possibly have done it already. "Found who?" Nero did not understand yet. "He wanted to look for the Pharaoh, he wants his host." She told him. "Yes.. the host. His name is Elias Gaines." He stunned them both by turning around and adressing their words. "Elias was the One after all?" Though the fact that he knew the name which Marcus's computer had selected was the bigger cause for concern. "And he found that out?"

The enemy stared at Nero, as if he saw him for the first time in years. "I see you came back." He ultimately noted. "That is right, I want to fight you again!" He pointed at him and Williams body. "I have already explained this to the girl, I can negate what the Iron Pillar has caused. Furthermore.." But Nero did not want to listen any longer, he just wanted to destroy this guy even if it could not save a single soul! "I will stop you no matter what..I know your tricks now.." Unfortunately he could not help it that Archon had no need to confront someone who could not follow, as he took into the air once more. "Come back you.." And at the same time the light that encircled the city began to change in contrast, in intensity. "..furthermore, this place holds no more value for our creator." All life had been taken from it, fed into the portal. "Stop it!" He cried. "Nero Jacobus, Christine Rose, there is no purpose in further conflict. Do not return here.." A sphere of energy came from his hands. "Rune Omicron." Before anyone could scream, it exploded in all directions.

...

"What?" Cable too, had been swallowed by the sudden blast. Yet when he opened his eyes, he found himself to be in one shape. "Fraser!" And just a few yards away, he saw his friends, equally unscathed. "What just happened to us? Better question: where are we?" The three were no longer in the city, they were in a forest apparrently. Along with some of the rubble from the city "Look." To the south there was a display of bright lights, which had to be that place. "That guy just teleported us out of the city? Why!?" Nero did not know whether to feel confused or insulted, why did he not just kill them if he had that kind of power? "Oh no." But Christine had some bad news. "Oh no." Neither William, nor the girl that they had saved had followed. "A selective warp?" They were still in there, with him. "Damn it, if he finds her again, they can complete the ritual after all!" They only needed one more anchor to open the portal. "No, it should be fine. He said that only his partner had that ability, and we defeated him." There was someone else who need a rescue right now. "We have to warn the others, Elias is in danger." Archon would soon go straight towards the orphanage. "Wait, our phones should work again now.."

Back in the city, Archon had left crashed helicopter site and returned to the hospital. He located the body of the girl from the emergency ward, and dragged her back. "_The anchors are all here." _ Six bodies were all lined up, Will and the five hosts of Turner. And next to them was the same mysterious iron key. "_Once the Iron Pillar returns, the ritual can continue. This area however is not secure.. and I need to be elsewhere." _The Rune he had put in place would keep people out of the city, and away from the portal itself. Yet the host of the Pharaoh was on the other side of the country, how would he cross that distance?

"Geez, calm down, what are you saying?" Cleo was talking to someone on her phone, loudly at that. "What is going on?" Ceasar asked Madlyn, as the pair watched. "She got a call from Nero apparently, and it sounds baaaaad." She hummed. "Bad news from Nero directly? What has my other name-companion been up to, I wonder." At last Cleo seemed to get the gist of the warning, as she eyed Elias. "Wh-what? What is wrong now?" He was already uncomfortable with these people. "We need to move you out of here." She said as she shut the phone. "Why, what is wrong?" Jackson asked her. "Some awful stuff is headed our way, we have to go to the safe place." Gained gulped. "Does it have anything to do with what was on the news?" He referred to the blacked out city. "Oh you don't even know the half of it." She sighed. "So let's go, come on!" Yet he stood firmly in his place. "What about them? What about the children and the staff?" He did not want to leave the orphanage behind just like that. "Hey, we can not take them all." She responded impatiently, she too did not want to meet 'this awfulness'. "I can not just let them stay here, if you say something terrible is headed this way!" He snapped back. "Ehr.."

"I'd say 'something terrible' is already here.."

A crushing atmosphere overwhelmed the duelists and the student, as 'he' appeared in their midsts. A man armored from head to toe in silver, almost angelic in motif. "Whoa.." Madlyn looked impressed, Ceasar and Cleo looked more nervous. "Who..or what, are you?" And Gaines did not even know where to begin. "My name is Archon, silver pillar of the magus Ka." He stated as if it were an imperial decree. "And there is no chance that this man is just a LARPer, is there?" He laughed nervously. The world around him might as well be breaking down; first the golden shining puzzle and now this. "I have come for you, Elias Gained." That he knew his full name was not at all reassuring. "Crap, how did he get here so fast?" Cleo spat. He had placed himself right between the building and their transport too, they could not get away from him. "He did not make it here." Jackson oddly claimed, as he could not sense him properly. "Huh, what are you saying?" Of course not everyone got what he meant. "He means, it is a projection."

"A what now?" What Elias did not need was another unworldly concept thrown into his mind. "Astral projection." Archon helpfully added. "The symbolist is correct. He can not sense me, because my presence here is immaterial." Cleo then picked up a small pebble. "Is that so?" And tossed it at the enemy. "What are you doing?!" The student panicked, but the stone phased right through the armored man. "Amazing." They found it an impressive feat, no wonder he got here so fast. "Though, if you are not really here..what is to stop us from walking passed you?" Ceasar asked cautiously. "This." He raised his hand and marked the very air with a magic sign. "Uh oh." In the blink of an eye, he had fired a spell at their vehicle parked just down the road. It was cleanly cut in half by the unseen energy, rendering it useless. "Oh we just had to ask." Now there was no point in running if they had no escape vehicle. "If my physical form can not be here, magic will influence your fates. However it is only one person whose path it should cross."

He looked right in the eyes of Elias, who quickly figured out the identity of 'the one person'. "Why me?" He inquired immediately. "Is it because of what they told me, are you still saying it is true?" He still did not fully trust the whole 'heir of the pharaoh'-story. Though the fantastical elements seemed less unlikely with every passing moment. "Elias Gaines. You are indeed the great grandson of the one who disturbed the Pharaoh's resting place. That Puzzle rightfully belongs to you, however the creator wishes to see it returned to the depths of the earth." He extended his hand. "You can hand it over to me, and your life will be spared." Elias actually seemed to think it over. "No, don't listen to him. He just wants to kill you along with the Pharaoh!" Cleo shouted the same warning Rose had given her. "Whoever said I was going to end his life." Archon replied calmly. "Don't lie. If you won't do it, your master or your pals will do it instead right?" She knew their kind too well. "... I never lie." He said. "Humanity lies to itself enough.."

At that point a dangerous factor entered the confrontation. "Whoa, check out the guy with the armor." Children. "Is he supposed to be a cosplayer, he does not look like any duel monster I have ever seen." They did not see the threat he posed, they did not feel the danger. "Another show perhaps?" The housekeeper caught up to them. "No children, you should stay away from that man." She understood the situation more than them. "Tsk. This is no place to deal with this guy." Jackson feared the reaction of Archon. Yet he seemed to ignore the tykes alltogether, still maintaining eye contact with Elias. This despite the fact that nobody could tell what was under that helmet besides shadows. "You would not dare." The student suddenly said with a grim tone. "That thought did not cross my mind, Pharaoh's host. Their interference is of no consequence, they all share the same destiny once the creator is freed." His hand still reached out for the Puzzle. "No." But now Elias has his answer. "I am not giving it up."

"..." For a second that seemed enough. "You are gonna take it by force then, a duel perhaps?" Madlyn guessed, the knight nodded slowly. "That was actually the response I had been trying to draw out. Because the Puzzle does not change ownership unless it is won fairly. We tried to take it through violence, only to end up with nothing." Jackson seemed prepared for this challenge, he activated his dueldisk. "No." Yet it took a mere gesture to knock the thing out of his hands. "Only he will suffice, only he will stand against me for the right of the Pharaoh." Ceasar seemed somewhat relieved upon hearing this, Madlyn was disappointed, and Cleo was not too sure if the student would accept a duel again. "What choice do I have?" Elias asked anyway. When the silver knight remained silent, he knew this was the only way. "At least let them duel elsewhere, away from the children." Jackson grunted. Though the noise in the background implied they actually wanted to see more card games. But this would be no normal game. "Accepted."

The projection faded and reappeared a few yards down the road. They had to follow him. "Just remember the tips we gave you, and you will be fine." Cleo tried to assure him. "I think I have already forgotten them." He was too nervous to think backmore then a few minutes. "Relax. Let the puzzle help you." Jackson said as he gave it back to him. "Oh..okay." So while the housekeeper held the orphans back, they raced to their new location. There Archon waited and his dueldisk was already active. "Let us begin, Pharaoh's host." Elias also activated the disk given to him, inserting his deck. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Elias's LP: 8000 Archon's LP: 8000

(To be Continued in New Testament 034: Walkuren Ritt)


	34. Walkuren Ritt

**New Testament 034: Walkuren Ritt**

"Okay. They will pick us up soon. But I am concerned, Cleo is not answering anymore." Cable feared the worst, though he doubted Archon could erach the orphanage that fast, even by flight. "Hey Cable." Nero had been looking for a way back to the main road. "You need to see this." Yet once he cleared the trees he got a better and more frightening look of the city. "What in the world?" They now saw the area in full display, and all of it had been sealed off with a dome of energy, a barrier. "Did he.. do all that?" It spanned miles and miles, including the army site that had investigated the portal. "He must have done that to protect the gateway, so that more of his kind can come through it in the future. And now Carter's body is beyond our reach." This was bad, he could not think of any way this day could get worse.

Though if he knew how close the enemy had come to their last hope..

Archon's LP: 8000 Elias's LP: 8000

"Draw your cards." The opponent had already drawn his. "R-right." Elias in turn pulled five cards from his deck. "He looks nervous. That better not mess with his game." Ceasar whispered from the sidelines. "He is our only chance but.. we might as well be banking on a miracle here." Cleo was not too optimistic. "Just trust the Puzzle to do the work." Jackson said softly. He did not want to worry the student. "But who begins?" Madlyn wondered. Archon had only drawn five cards, so was he going to wait? "Your move." Indeed he was. "Oh okay.. draw." Elias added his sixth card. He looked at his hand and wondered which Lightsworn to use, he could not attack in the first turn and he had very little spells or traps. _"I must defend. Wait.." _He read one card closer. "I set this one!" A monster was placed face down. The four on the side of the road sighed, at least he had learned how to properly set a monster in defense. "Is that all?" The knight asked, he slowly nodded. "Then the game truly begins." He in turn drew his card.

"Invoke the monster: Valkyrie Reginleif." He summoned his first card, a blonde valkyrie (1400/1400) wearing lightblue armor flew down onto the field with her winged horse. _"These are the cards evil uses?"_ She looked almost innocent. "Strike." He pointed at his facedown, and the woman cut through his set Lightsworn. A gust of wind blew across the field as she made her move. "Huh? Did the hologram cause that?" That attack felt surprisingly real. "This is no child's game, Pharaoh's host. In here all damage you take will be as real as the light of the sun and the air in the sky." However suddenly Reginleif cried out in pain. "He fell for it!"

_Valkyrie Reginleif, 4/1400/1400 Light/Fairy  
__During the endphase of a turn in which this card is special summoned, you can select a LIGHT monster from your graveyard and add it to your hand._

Ceasar saw what happened, he had triggered the flip effect of his facedown Lightsworn Hunter, Ryko(200/100). "When it is flipped, a card on the field is destroyed and three cards from his deck are sent to the grave." The valkyrie disappeared in a ray of light. "I see, you did well." Archon sounded impressed. "Th-thanks." He was happy he remembered his mistakes from the duel with Cleo. Then suddenly a new Lightsworn was summoned to the field, a wolfman (2100/300). "Hey where did that come from?" Gaines did not see that coming. "That's Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast! You must have discarded him with Ryko's effect, which special summons him to your field." Jackson explained. "Ah, that's good." Things started to look up. Archon continued. "I will set two cards facedown and end my turn." The others started to get excited, he was wide open now. "He better look out for those traps though." Elias started his turn. "Traps?" He had not dealt with them yet. "Just attack, do not be intimidated!" Madlyn shouted at him. "Right!"

"I summon this one." He sacrificed Wulf for a level 6 monster "I meant to call it out earlier, remember Cleo?" She'd rather not. In any case a mighty pegasus-like dragon appeared (2000/1600). "Gragonith, the Lightsworn Dragon. His attack rises by 300 points for every Lightsworn in my cemetery." There were three in the grave, Ryko, Wulf and one discarded by Ryko. "Direct attack!" He wasted no time, and sent the Dragon (2900/2000) straight at the silver one. "I see you are proud of your work, but you are not ready yet." He flipped a counter trap. "Wodens Judgment." The holy flames of his monster were diverted. "Hey, how did.." Then Archon sent 1 card from his hand to the deck and drew another card. "This is a trap that ends the battle phase and switches one card in my hand with one card in my deck." In short, Gragonith had been stopped. Though Jackson got a bad feeling from the card he had drawn just now. "I thought I was going to do some nice damage there. I guess I end my turn." Gragonith discarded 3 cards from the top of his deck.

_Wodens Judgment, Counter Trap  
__Activate only when a monster declares an attack. Shuffle 1 card from your hand into the Deck, then draw 1 card and immediately end the Battle Phase._

"You should not think, you should know..." His turn began. As Doe expected, the card he had just gained was the one he played. "Spell: Ride of the Valkyries. I special summon all Valkyries in my hand." Everyone gasped. "He can what now?" Three female knights riding winged horses flew across the field. "Valkyrie Erste(1600/1800), and two Valkyrie Zweite(1600/1600), come to me and use your powers." Before anyone could say anything, Zweite had used her effect to destroy Gragonith. "But he was stronger.." Elias protested. "There is more to strength than numbers.. Nothing is set in stone, observe.." Then Erste activated her effect, removing the sacrificed Wulf from play to steal its attackpoints (2100/1800). "Not good.." Now he was the one who was wide open. "Treasure yourself fortunate, that you live through this." All three of the Valkyrie flew around the duelist, creating a fierce tornado that cut his life down by a considerate amount. "Gaaaah!!!" And he was not prepared for the pain that followed, as each hit cut into him.

Elias's LP: 2700

"No! I knew this would happen." Cleo cursed and looked away. "Come on, don't give up!" Madlyn yelled at him. "Rrrgh, why.." He was bleeding, but the wounds were not dangerous. The shock had caused most agony. "As I said, this is no game. Yet rest easy, now they shall retreat." During the endphase, all Valkyries special summoned by that spell would go back to his deck. "Tsk." Elias started to feel anger, oddly enough. "I did not ask for any of this." He drew another card, and summoned another monster. "Why did it have to be me!" He summoned a knight of his own, Jain the Lightsworn Paladin(1800/1200). "Just go away!" Jain attacked directly. "I can not, Pharaoh's host, and I will not." But he simply activated his other trap he had prepared. "Logi's Flame: Any monster with less than 2000 attackpoints can not touch me."

_Logi's Flame, Continuous Trap  
__Your opponent cannot attack with monsters with 2000 or less ATK.  
__When this card is removed from the field by an opponents card effect, you can special summon 1 'Valkyrie' monster card from your deck in face-up attack mode. _

A wall of fire arose in between the two players, and the Paladin could not cross it. "Wait, it says here that Jain can get 300 more attackpoints when it attacks." So it should have been able to bypass it. "I am sorry but that is only when it attacks monsters Elias." Cleo said, not sounding happy about it either. "Great." He ended his turn, Jain discarded 2 cards from the top of his deck. "And why is that trap not disappearing? He thought traps were supposed to be a one-time deal. "Its a permanent trap, it wont go away until you destroy it." She again told him. "My turn." Archon added a new card to his previously empty hand. "LightandDarknessKnight." This time he did not call out a Valkyrie, but a male monster that looked more like him, if half of his armor had been painted black (1900/1800). "This card resides on both sides, light and dark-elemental. It will empower all creatures of the Light every time it lives to see the end of a turn." Both glared at the offending Knight. "Destroy the Paladin."

Elias's LP: 2600

_LightandDarknessKnight, 4/1900/1800 Light/Warrior  
__While this card is face-up on the field, its Attribute is also treated as DARK.  
__As long as this card is face-up on your side of the field. Increase the atk of all Light and Dark-type monsters by 300 points during the endphase._

His Knight had attacked and cut down Jain, inflicting 100 damage to his master. "Ggh." Then during his endphase the Black&White warrior used it's powers to strengthen himself (2200/1800). "Oh come on.." It was already stronger than any Lightsworn in his deck. "The longer you defend, the harder it will be to overcome this power." He was finished for now. "Draw!" He added another card to his hand, and again it was just a Lightsworn. "_I have 6 times as many cards, and yet I can not even harm him once."_ None of his cards were stronger than his, so he was forced to place a monster in facedown defense position_. "It can not end like this_." And Archon no longer wasted time on small talk. "Disappointing." Was his one word, as he normal summoned another Valkyrie(1000/1600). "Valkyrie Dritt, the third Valkyrie." This one had short read hair as opposed to long hair "She gains strength for each monster removed from play." Wulf alone was removed from play by the effect of Valkyrie Erste, so Dritte gained just 100 attackpoints (1100/1600).

_Valkyrie Dritte, 4/1000/1600 Light/Fairy  
__This card gains 100 ATK for each card that is removed from play_

"Destroy his defender, and strike him directly." LightandDarkness used its dagger to stab the Lightsworn Druid, Aurkus (1200/1800). Dritt followed it up by slashing the duelist with her longsword, leaving yet another cut on his arm. "Hang in there kid." Jackson and the others were still trying to keep his spirits up, but it started to lose its effect. _"Can I even win this?" _As the Silver Knight ended his turn, both Dritt(1400/1600) and LightandDarkness(2500/1800) gained a boost. "_I can destroy Dritte maybe, but that Firewall is still in the way. Any defense I summon can only stop one attack.. It's hopeless."_ He lowered his head. "I did not want this." He did not draw yet, he felt exhausted. "Are you giving up? You can still walk away.." Archon suddenly said to him. "Oh no you don't. Don't you dare listen to him." Cleo fumed, but the student did not even hear her anymore. He looked down at the puzzle around his neck. _"Is this supposed to bring me luck, it's more of a curse. Maybe I should just give it away before it kills me..."_

Elias's LP: 1500

Then why was he frozen, why were his arms and legs numb? Was it from fear, concern, or doubt; why did he hesitate to surrender? They told him what he might do if he got this puzzle, yet did he believe it? One thing he did know was how dangerous this stranger was, his body could not take much more of his attacks. The world had seemed so simple before this day, before noon. If there was a way out, he gladly would have taken it. Yet on some level he already accepted it, this had already gone passed the point of no return. There was no way to continue except by drawing the next card from his disk. So he closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and pulled it from the slot. But then, when he tried to look at what was in his left hand, something else caught his attention first. Only he saw it, a golden glimmer emanating from the center of the Millenium puzzle. The eye-symbol was giving off some unusual energy. _"Who.." _And before too long all he saw was the light, everything around him went dark and he was drawn into it.

"... What is he doing?" Elias had not moved for a while. "He is not surrend... No wait." Suddenly the student moved again, giving the card in his fingers one look and activating it. "Heh.. Solar Recharge!" It was a spell, which allowed the user to draw 2 cards at the cost of 1 Lightsworn in his hand and 2 cards from the top of his deck. Elias threw away another Lightsworn Beast Wulf, and added two cards to his hand. His first trap of the game, and something very nice. "_What is going on?" _Jackson felt a difference in the aura of the duelist. _"His expression changed."_ Archon sensed the change too.

"When four different types of Lightsworn monsters exist in my graveyard, I can special summon this monster card!" He said with renewed vigour. "Judgment Dragon!" To the field came a different type of dragon, more oriental with red claws and white scales. It was the strongest card so far (3000/2600). "I almost forgot about that one." Ceasar smirked. This was the trump card of a Lightsworn deck. "Is that why he is so happy?" Madlyn seemingly liked his newfound spirit, and his deeper voice. "And now, by paying 1000 lifepoints all cards on the field besides the Dragon will be destroyed." Judgment Dragon roared and unleashed a field-wide burst of holy energy that erased Archon's monsters and Logi's Flame from existance, everyone was awed. "Though the cost may be grave, everything is worth it to put your kind back into the depths of the underworld." By now everyone started to notice this was more than just a confidence boost. "I see you have awoken, Lord Pharaoh." And Archon was the first to name this 'new Elias'

Elias's LP: 500

"You remember me... Silver Pillar." He looked to the left. "And I remember you two well, Cleo Caine and Jackson Doe." They flinched, so he still had those memories. "Once this is over, I will thank you properly for all that has been done. And you can tell me what has happened. But for now.." He turned back to face the enemy. "I have a darkling to defeat." The others just watched in stunned silence. They had imagined this could have happened, but they had never hoped for it. "You wish to defeat us, Pharaoh? Then by all means, face me as you are now. However you may find that things have changed since the last three Millenia." More holy flames surrounded Archon. "Is that so? Raness did note that this version of the Silver Pillar did not resemble the last one. "Nevertheless we are glad that you came, as it was never my duty to kill your host...alone." He seemed to supress a laugh. "Now, with your presence at the surface, it is possible for me to fulfill my mission. Pharaoh Raness, I will kill you and send what remains of your spirit to my creator!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 035: Monument to the Kings)

**New Cards used by Elias Gaines/Pharaoh Raness  
**Wulf, Lightsworn Beast  
Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon  
Jain, Lightsworn Paladin  
Judgment Dragon

-  
Solar Recharge

**New Cards used by Archon  
**_Valkyrie Reginleif  
__LightandDarknessWarrior  
__Valkyrie Dritt (+)  
__  
__-  
__Wodens Judgment (+)  
__Logi's Flame (+)_

_(+) Based on cards used by Ziegfried in Yugioh KC Krand Prix_


	35. Monument to the Kings

**New Testament 035: Monument to the Kings**

Archon's LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 400

"So that's the Pharaoh eh. I expected a bigger change, though he does appear to be taller." Ceasar was not impressed, yet. "Check your eyes fool, he looks just the same. Just sounds different." Cleo snapped at him. Now was not the time. "I think he is cool." Madlyn said softly. "What matters is.. can he turn this game around?" Jackson sighed. The prospects looked grim even now. "But he is wide open right?" Judgment Dragon had just cleared the field, but it took a lot of lifepoints to do so. "Not quite." However from the holy flames and smoke came a new monster. "What is that?" Even Raness was surprised. "Valkyrie Brunhilde." A knightly woman with long dark hair appeared (1800/2000). "When you destroyed my trap: Logi's Flame, it's secondary effect was triggered. It special summoned one Valkyrie from my arsenal." Brunhilde had come from the deck in attack mode. "I understand your amazement, Pharaoh. The Silver Pillar you knew did not use spirits of this type, of this element. Much has changed during your slumber"

_Valkyrie Brunhilde, 8/1800/2000 Light/Fairy_  
_While this card is in attack position, it gains 300 ATK for every dragon and warrior-type monster on the field._  
_When this card is selected as an attack target, you can reduce this card's DEF by 1000, and it will not be destroyed by battle (damage calculation is applied normally)._

"I shall just have to crush whatever new spirits you summon with sheer power." He summoned another Lightsworn Paladin, Jain (1800/1200). "I should warn you, Brunhilde's attack rises by 300 points for every Warrior and Drfagon on the field." The others gasped, there was one each present. The Valkyrie powered up (2400/2000) "Even so, I will strike!" Judgment Dragon(3000/2500) roared and shot a burst of divine energy at Brunhilde. She however raised her shield to intercept the attack. "What?" The shield broke in half, Archon took in some of the energy, yet she survived. "I see." Jackson read upon the card text. "She can survive one battle by giving up one of her two thousand defense points." One half of her shield remained (2400/1000). "Then he can not attack with Jain.. but the Paladin is easy pickings for Brunhilde."

Archon's LP: 7400

Raness knew he had been thwarted, the trap was his only hope. "I set one card and end my turn." Six cards were discarded from the top of his deck, four for Judgment Dragon and two for the Paladin. "Your first card left its mark on me, Pharaoh. However you did not stop my advance, you are as fragile as the host left himself." He immediately entered the battle phase. "Destroy the Paladin!" Brunhilde flew down upon the helpless Lightsworn. "Trap card!" But this he was ready for, he played a permanent trap. "Lightsworn Barrier! By discarding the two top cards on my deck, I can negate an attack made against my Lightsworn monsters!" A crystal-like shield encircled Jain, blocking the woman's sword. "Close call." And something else happened, suddenly a sword was put in the hands of Jain. "That's the Lightsworn Saber!" One of two cards discarded was the equip spell that attached itself to a Lightsworn when sent from the deck to the grave. "It will give them 700 attackpoints to boot." The Paladin powered up (2500/1200).

"Now I have two monsters that can destroy your Valkyrie, Archon." Raness smirked. "Are they now? Allow me to counter your blade with mine." He played the only card in his hand, an equipment for Brunhilde. "Enchanted Sword Nothung, the sword that slew the Dragon Fafnir." Her attackpoints shot up as well, by 400 points (2800/1000). Though with 2800 attackpoints, Jain could take her down in battle, even if it killed himself. Archon knew this. "Behold." But she attacked with it already, sending a beam of light into Judgment Dragon "Hey you can not do that!" The mighty beast was removed from play almost instantly. "Yes I can, that is the effect of Nothung, to remove a dragon upon activation. Furthermore from now on any dragon that Brunhilde meets will be erased from her path." He finished his turn.

_Enchanted Sword Nothung, Equip Spell  
__When you activate this card, remove 1 Dragon-Type monster on the field from play.  
__While this card is equipped to a 'Valkyrie'-monster, it gains 400 ATK and can remove any Dragon-Type monster it battles from play. (Damage calculation is not applied)._

_"Even after Judgment Dragon, he regained superiority." _But that did not stop Raness. With Judgment Dragon gone, she (2500/1000) was weaker. "I attack with Jain!" The Paladin gained 300 attackpoints by its own effect (2800/1200) and raised his sword. Brunhilde in turn brought up her shield to deflect the attack, though this time it was destroyed entirely (2500/0). "One more will do it." He placed one card and one monster face-down and ended his turn. "Even if he is doing well, his attacks are not hurting him enough." Madlyn said, sounding almost disappointed. "Meanwhile he needs to just tap him, and it's over."

Archon's LP: 7100

"Draw." Archon looked at his card, and again barely contained a chuckle. "Pharaoh, let me see your luck again. I use the spell: Pegasus Wings!" Suddenly the horse that Brunhilde rode grew angelic wings, yet her original attackpoints, attackboosts not included, were halved(1600/0). "Why did you do that?" He asked the silver knight. "To fly around your defenses. Pegasus Wings will allow a Valkyrie to strike directly." Brunhilde took to the sky, circling around Raness like a vulture. "Oh no, look out!" Then she swooped down, her sword impaling right into the back of the duelist. "Ngah!" However his lifepoints were not depleted entirely, due to a spell he played right before the attack. "Emergency Provisions?" By sending spells or traps from his field to the cemetery, he gained 1000 LP for each card. "I send Lightsworn Saber, and Lightsworn Barrier." He had to send both to survive, so his LP went up to 2400 before he was cut down by 1600. "Fate does seem to favor you, Pharaoh. Yet even it is dependant on what remains in your deck.."

Elias's LP: 800

_Pegasus Wings, Normal Spell  
__Halve the original ATK of a 'Valkyrie' monster you control until the endphase. The selected monster can attack your opponent's life points directly during this turn. _

Without the Saber, Jain (1800/1200) could not match the restored powers of Brunhilde (2500/0). Raness could not believe how strong of an opponent Archon was. _"Did my arrival ruin everything? I played right into their hands.."_ If he lost now, he would be sent to the realm of darkness just like all those other souls. Any progress he made would be rendered pointless. "_Curse it, why did I sleep for so long. The enemy has gotten too powerful, what do I do?"_ It was his turn now, yet he knew no card in Elias's deck could help him now. _"There is only one thing.. " _He closed his eyes. "What, now even he wants to give up?" Cleo could not believe what she saw. But it would get better soon. "In the name of Justice.." He whispered. "!?" And then the symbol of the Millenium appeared on his forehead, a glowing eye. "Draw!" And he drew the card from his deck, which started to shine just as brilliantly. "Did he.. regain some of his powers?" Jackson and Archon felt a surge in magic, a brighter aura. "Prepare yourself!"

He flipped his facedown monster, a female magician Lightsworn(1000/1000). "Lightsworn Summoner Lumina: by discarding one card from my hand, she can revive one LV4 or lower Lightsworn in the cemetery." He discarded a random spell. "I revive the Beast Wulf(2100/300)." There were now three monsters on the field. "Don't tell me.." This scenario looked familiar to Caine and Doe. "Sacrifice summon!" Lumina, Wulf and Jain were removed for a new monster, one that towered over the road and trees. "Oh my goodness." A hulking blue giant, the divine soldier of the earth; this was Obelisk the Tormentor (4000/4000). "It's the god card!" Jackson cried out. "It is.. amazing!" Ceasar had to rub his eyes just to make sure. "But when and how did he draw this?" Cleo wondered, Madlyn was just speechless. "Impressive." Archon looked up at it. "And now I strike. Be gone Brunhilde: God Hand Crusher!" Obelisk wound up for a punch, and plowed straight into the Valkyrie(2200/0). She was destroyed for good. "Tscch."

Archon's LP: 5300

However the blow itself did something odd to the enemy. Or rather it affected his astral projection. "_Hmm. The god's impact_.." The magic that held his form together in this place was weakening, god's presence was literally rejecting the wicked mana. "Well done, Pharaoh. You have proven yourself a threat." Already his body started to fade like dust. "Is he retreating?" Cleo did not know if she liked that, nobody had won yet. "For the time being you may rest easy. Until we can meet face to face that is." With his disappearing arm he pointed at Raness/Elias. "However, it would seem the summoning of god took more out of you then you'd have liked." The pharaoh cringed, he did feel exhausted and pressured. "It seems you are not yet at full strength. It will be interesting to see if you can recover in time.. Because as you are all now, none of you can stop the coming of our creator." And then, at last, his image left. Obelisk reacted to this by sinking into the ground, his divine aura no longer imposing itself on the area. The duel was over.

"..." Raness had driven him back, yet he did not feel pleased. "_I was too late... No, even if I did beat him.. it would just be a projection."_ The real Archon was somewhere else, some place he could not reach. "I am affraid.. I have exhausted myself." He told the others, as he slumped to his knees. "For now I will rest." He was about to fall to the ground, but Jackson managed to support him. "You deserved it, Pharaoh." He said solemnly. The body merely smiled, as his spirit withdrew into the puzzle. "What about the other guy, how is Gaines doing?" It appeared the host had simply fallen asleep, either he was exhausted as well or this would happen after every 'possession'. "He will be in for a big shock once he wakes up. But we can transport him back to base now" It was more convenient for them than having to explain everything to him right here. Inconvenient it would however be to clarify this to the orphanage. "I hope nobody saw that big god thing. At some point people will stop believing in hologram over-ups." Ceasar walked over to the student and took his dueldisk. "Curious. The card is not here.." The Obelisk card was not on the field slot anymore. "Makes one wonder how he even managed to summon it.."

"The projection was destroyed." Archon, the real one, said as he stood on the ourskirts of the city. "Yet the pharaoh has been given new life, I was able to fulfill one part of my task." He seemed to be talking to someone. That being the mysterious stranger driving the van. "However Zakarias was destroyed before the sixth and sevent anchor could be sent to the dark world. It is difficult to say how long his regeneration will take." He gave the Iron key back to the hooded man. He stared at the Silver Knight and cackled. "Oh? You already came up with a new plan, Steel Pillar? Interesting.."

"Where am I!?" Elias woke up on a bed inside a vehicle he did not recognize, with people he still barely knew. "You?! It was not a dream?" He felt the pain in his head return, this right now had to be reality at least. "I fear not, and that seems to be the standard response." Cleo sat opposite of him, Madlyn right next to him. "You were out for an hour or so, you seemed pretty tired." The girl told him. By now he realized this was a big medical helicopter. "Am I going to the hospital?" He asked with mild concern. "No, not really. That's just what we told your friends at the home. A story about how you won both challenges, against me and the silver armored Larper, causing you to earn the great reward at Marcus's show. Of course this was such an honour to you, that you promptly fainted." Elias's face flushed. "What? That did not happen, I do not faint that easily!" He seemed pretty annoyed again. That they took him against his will did not help. "You better tell me what really happened at that duel, and where I am going. I have rights!"

"Pretty uppity for a guy whose life we saved." Since Archon would have tried to kill him eventually anyway. "But you do not know what happened? You did not notice anything about the 'other you'?" Madlyn asked him. He could only look at them both in confusion. "Other me? Who would that be!?" He could not recall anything after he started giving up on the game. "I see, he does not share experiences." Jackson said, who heard it all while seated up front. "Whose experiences!?" They were not quite sure how to bring this up. "Ehr.. let's just say that puzzle. It has a spirit inside, and it kinda took over your body. That was who won the duel." He looked down at the golden puzzle. "Wh-what?" This thing was hiding a ghost? "You can not be serious." He had to draw the line with fantasy somewhere. "It's okay. If you do not believe us, believe this footage." Halliday cheerfully showed him her phone's video file, it had recorded the entire duel. "No way." Elias saw himself in a completely different light, a new voice too. "Cool, right?"

"He is coming over here? Good.." Marcus put down the phone. Nero, Cable and were already back at the TV-station, the latter with her wounds patched up and in better shape. "They will be fine?" Rose asked immediately. "Yes, yes. It seems the entire trip was a success too. That young lad is indeed the host for your beloved Pharaoh." Everyone sighed a breath of relief. But the worst was not yet over. "Though how will we deal with this Archon person?" Lydia asked her teacher. "In time, my dear. In time. First let us welcome our new friend." He seemed happy. Nero not so much. "That's it? That is all we are going to do? What about William, and all those people they killed!" He could not stop thinking about them. "I said: patience. Nero. Right now we can not do anything. We do not even know where their souls are.."

_.......!!!!_

William Carter opened his eyes. But what he saw with them wide open was as dark as what came before. All around him was an endless blackness, with vague indistinguishable shapes and forms. The only sounds made were the moans of unseen entities, inhuman moans. "Where... is this?" He said, as his voice echoed across the void. This was a dimension of no life, this was the world of shadows..

(To be Continued in New Testament 036: Consequences)

**New Cards used by Raness/Elias Gaines  
**Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner  
Obelisk the Tormentor

-  
Lightsworn Saber  
Emergency Provisions

-  
Lightsworn Barrier

**New Cards used by Archon  
**_Valkyrie Brunhilde_

_-  
__Enchanted Sword Nothung  
__Pegasus Wings_

_(+) All these cards are based on Ziegfried's deck from Yugioh KC Krand Prix_


	36. Consequences

**New Testament 036: Consequences**

"So... You are 'the boss' around here?" Elias and company had returned to the headquarters and there he met with Marcus Simmons. "Guilty." He extended a hand. "And we are very pleased to meet you, honored even." Elias did not immediately accept it, he looked around first. "This is your hideout.. underneath a film studio. Which looks pretty busted up there.." And nobody wanted to tell him why. "That's a long story for another time. Anyway let us introduce ourselves properly." So he was given the names of everyone there, one in particular stood out to him. "Hey are you.." He noticed the fortune teller Prospero, and what was around his neck. "Aye, welcome fellow comrade of the Millenium." He said with great pride. "You mean to tell me there's more of these things? Do they all have a ghost inside them?" Not that he did not like it, but at least he thought he was special. "Not as such no. This is just one of the seven items. Look." Cable approached and showed him his; the Millenium Key. "They are of the Pharaoh's servants."

Another explanation followed, which was not just for his sake, but Prospero and other apprentices needed to hear about it too. "Priests huh. I am assuming the original owned of the Tauk was a diviner like me." That only added to Prospero's sense of self-esteem. "Yes, but after the collapse of the Egyptian kingdom, the items must have been buried in tombs like the pyramid. Only then came the grave robbers and national treasure folk, who did not see the connection and scattered them across the globe." Cable turned to look at Elias. "Your ancestor was the one who found the Puzzle, yet for some reason it too was broken into pieces. Perhaps he found it that way, as a test of the host." He took the puzzle in his hands, which began to shiver. "To become a doormat for this great spirit? I do not have to like that.." Raness did save his life, but endangered it in the first place. "No point in complaining about it now." He sighed and let it go. "Well enough story time, we still have a fearsome foe to deal with."

"So what do we know about this fellow? His name appears to be Archon, and he calls himself the Silver Pillar." Why he could not tell, other than the fact that his armor was actually made from that material. "The one I defeated, Zakarias, was called the Iron Pillar." She could not be certain, but it sounded like they had a theme going on. "Only he was able to steal souls from people, their entire bodies consumed as energy. Archon on the other hand only had to kill one man." That being Elias of course, who just nodded uncomfortably. "He seems to have a magic spell for every situation, he set up that barrier and he can create astral projections. Who knows why he has not showed up here yet." Perhaps Obelisk had damaged that magic. "Well we have recordings from your duel, Rose, and from the duel at the orphanage. It will tell us about his strategy, his cards." They needed all information they could get. "Wait, you mean the makers of the card game do not recognize his cards?" Cleo asked. "No.. these Pillars use their own cards. I can honestly tell you that I never made any cards about Valkyries, or Paradius the Unredeemed One. We could assume these are just extensions of their master, the Magus Ka.."

"That is all well and such, but I want to know how to break through that barrier." Nero fumed, pacing around the room impatiently. "Ah yes, our finest scientists are examining it now. Or whoever we could find after the previous round was de-souled." Marcus seemed to find it funny yet inconvenient at the same time. "We have extended the perimeter, installed more guards, ordered all flights to be rerouted. Yet the government can only do so much, sooner or later people will find out about it." Technically they already were, but internet rumor sites were never a big source for reliable information he thought. "It seems nothing solid can proceed, and any attempts to damage it have been unsuccesful so far. It may take supernatural methods." He looked at the puzzle, the key and the tauk. "What do you have in mind?" Colin wondered, with caution since this was Simmmons he was dealing with. "Nothing right now. Our best bet is to concentrate on finding the remaining items: The Ring, Rod, Eye and Scales. My computer will do that work."

So he dismissed everyone, to allow them some well-earned rest. Cleo walked up to Elias and Prospero. "By the way, word of advice to you two. Stay away from Marcus, he is bad news." She handed them an old newspaper, with an article about his trial and Tum'aga's 'disease outbreak'.. "I just thought you'd like to know what he has been up to." However unknown to her Marcus was still up to things she would not approve of. He looked at his monitors and grinned. "_So there is a way into the barrier after all. I never would have thought it depended on human error. The death of William will serve its purpose after all." _

"Hey Colin." Meanwhile Christine approached the other diviner. "What was it like... when Turner took.." She could not quite finish the question. "Oh.. well." He understood regardless, though if he could answer.. "I do not know really. It was like being in a dreamless sleep, no sight, no sound, no experiences. But I do not know if that's what William is undergoing right now." He had also correctly guessed the true purpose of Christine's question. "I see... Thank you." It did not put her at ease, yet it was all she could do right now. But the place that Colin's soul had been stored was not exactly the world in which Carter found himself...

Elsewhere....

"Relax Will, Relax.. there is an explanation for everything." He told himself as he was alone and trapped within a dark void that seemingly had no end. "_What I remember is.. that duel.. with the enemy. And I... lost that one." _Suddenly it sunk in_. "Oh.. this must be their 'home'." _All the darkness around him, it was part of the shadow dimension, the place where evil spirits were sent. _"I wonder if this a version of hell. Grrr, I do not want to think about that!" _He shook his head and tried to keep himself distracted by pacing around. _"But where is everybody else? Did I wake up alone here? For that matter how did I manage to sleep standing?"_ Suddenly he could not move any further, even though there was a clear space ahead of him. "What is this?" It felt like pushing against an invisible wall, very smooth one at that. "Wait." Yet he found there was one section he could push through. "C'mon.." After exerting a little force, he came through. Though the other end of the unseen wall was even less pleasant. "Oh lord."

Gone was the dark fog, gone was the featureless void, only its endless reach had not been fabricated by his 'prison'. He stood on a single mountaintop in the middle of a vast nightmare-ish land. The skies were blood-red, its clouds releasing occasional burts of black lightning. Down below were rivers and swamps filled with what looked like ink and oil. There seemed to be no plantlife, or any life for that matter. And behind him he saw what kept him from seeing the true horror. It was a crystalline cocoon, one of many. "These are.." He counted seven all in all. _"It can not be, this is where the souls end up?"_

He inspected another crystal, but it was a black on the outside as it had been on the inside._ "They have got to be in there.." _He tried to open them up, yet neither searching thoroughly, nor kicking the damn thing seemed to do the trick. "I have to do something." He saw that the crystals were attached to chains, which were going all the way up. "The portal!" Five chains headed into a tiny glowing crack in the sky. Yet he could think of nothing to help the other four souls, the chains did not budge at all either. _"Their sleep is deeper than mine.. what makes me so special?"_ There was nothing for him here, he had to escape somehow.. The clouds above seemed to part only in two areas, one was the bright portal that the pillars had created and anchored into this world. There was another spot, in the distance. The tallest mountain in this world seemed to lie directly under it, as if that was the best way of escaping. "..." He knew he would not get anywhere by staying here, and he saw a way to climb down this mountain. He just hated leaving them behind.

A few minutes later, or hours, he had descended all the way down. He could not really tell in this world, what the time was. He was not hungry or tired yet, but then could he even receive those feelings anymore? So many questions ran through his mind. "_How long did I sleep in that crystal? Why were there only five of em, did they stop Zakarias after all?"_ Come to think of it, why could he not see any of their kind anywhere. Would the servants of the Magus not want to safeguard their doorway to the human world? In fact he expected to see more creepy things in this underworld. Sure he felt as if he was being watched at all times, and he could swear that certain sounds echoed in the background, yet he never saw any concrete evidence of entities living here. He did not like to think, it did not help keeping his fears at bay.

At any rate, he found it easy to traverse the moist and oily pits, until he came across a large waterbed in the middle of an opening. The stench of it was something he had never smelled before, so at least his nose worked here. "That can not be good." He saw a narrow way around it, which would be faster than backtracking and finding another path towards the large mountain in the distance. _"No time to waste." _He took the first step in the ash-like substance encircling the lake, nothing happened yet. It was only halfway that the dreaded moment occurred, the water started bubbling. "!?" A light shone at the bottom, a strangely patterned light. "Guah!" William tried to run for it, but a long slithering claw emerged and reached out. "No!" Ales he could not get away in time, he was pushed against the ground.

"_**Whaaaaat is thiiissss?" **_A voice came from the depths, soon the owner of it arose. Within the lake he had been waiting, a sickening wire-thin shadow. _**"A fresh spirit.. Where did you come from little one?"**_ The head of the creature came up close, as if he expected an answer. Even if Carter was in the right mind to respond, he could barely breathe pressed down like this. _**"Too scared? Ahhh well... you don't need to answer.. I will know.."**_ Without warning the claw jerked up and dragged him into the blackness. _**"When I have feasted on your soul, your memories will become a part of me!"**_ The light returned, now he could see what was actually lurking down below. He heard moans, and he saw bones... it was a graveyard. _**"Fresh Ba, human Ba, rahaa rahahahah!"**_ The monster shouted excitedly. Carter could feel his strength fading, he was getting sleepy again.. hard to keep his eyes open.. "_So it is possible to get tired here after all.."_ Was his life going to end here, his afterlife? He just did not understand..

"Let go of him!"

A blast came out of nowhere, it hit the creature right in the arm, causing him to release Will. _**"Hsss, who else is here!!"**_Before it could reach out, something swooped passed and grabbed the body of the duelist. It deposited him on the side of the lake, next to three figures. "This is bad, he is already been drained." One voice said, it was a female. "He will keep losing Ba energy unless we get it back." Another spoke, this one was a young man. "Then we have to defeat it, to save him." The third was also a man, a bit older and angrier sounding. "Wait, you want to challenge him? I know is a human and all, but this is a lake-dweller we are talking about here." The younger one started to panic. "You do not understand, this is not just a human." The girl said. By now Will regained enough energy to open his eyes and focus on his surroundings, he could see who had rescued him. He saw a demonic-looking monster fading as if it were a virtual image, he saw himself sitting in a strange cloud. "Yes, that is my brother.."

But what he saw most of all, was someone who flooded his thoughts with memories. "Andre.."

It was him alright, the same long unkempt hair, the same bright eyes. His clothes were different though, while familiar at the same time. "Don't move little brother, I will be right with you." He even had that smile he always used when he was actually very sad. "Wh-what is going on?" Now he finally saw who else was here, though it was almost impossible to fathom it. "V-venice?" She was there too, the girl that had been taken over by the demon Illya and subsequently killed. The third character he did not recognize. "Stay calm, do not try to talk. It will just speed up the... process." She seemed to remember him too, and talked to him gently. _**"Raaaaaaaaaah!!! Humans! More ba! Why were you hiding from me?" **_Andre now stood at the edge of the lake, and revealed a dueldisk on his wrist. "I am not here to become your sustenance, nor will I run away. I challenge you lake-dweller! To regain the life you stole from my brother!" The disk was activated. _**"That's a laugh, if you and him shared blood once! Like any of that matters here!" **_It shuddered with laughter, but froze up suddenly. _**"Very well!"**_ It too created a sort of appendage in which it placed cards seemingly torn from its own melting skin. _**"I will stake his Ba against yours!!" **_

(To be Continued in New Testament 037: Hell is Other Duelists)


	37. Hell is Other Duelists

**New Testament 037: Hell is Other Duelists**

Andre's LP: 8600 Shadow's LP: 7700

"He nearly took all of it." Andre counted the lifepoints the Lake dweller was putting on the line, that had to be all of Williams life energy. "No wonder.." He looked back and saw his ailing brother. "A..andre." He was still breathing but exhausted and weakening. _**"Your Ba is nice, human. How did you get that much, rehehaheh"**_ The creature seemed happy to have taken on such a tasty opponent. _**"I will love to add you and your members to my accumulation." **_Andre started drawing his cards. "No more of that, you will not get your hands on anything more!" He started the duel, and summoned a monster. "Intercept Archfiend!" A strange multi-armed demon(1400/1600) with football armor was summoned. _**"Oh!? So you can manifest spirits after all, you were not bluffing? Ahah, this will be fun. But... only the darkness can strive here, only the dark ones can survive." **_Andre ended his turn at that point. "I know. But this deck of mine has already adjusted itself. I have heard a lot about your kind"

The shadow pulled a card from his skin. _**"You mean it? You know what you are messing with? I have sustained myself for centuries.." **_His first card appeared to be a field spell, the Mausoleum of the Deceased Emperor. _**"What I took from your blood, will give form to my power. I sacrifice two thousands of Ba to the Mausoleum!" **_Since he had payed 1000 LP twice, he could normal summon a monster that normally took two tributes. _**"Dread it, dread the coming of the Earthbound! When a field is played, they Immortals can come and play as well"**_ And as he did summon a high-level monster, his body became taller, absorbing oil from the lake to grow. Glowing yellow lines were added to the skin of the creature, who started to resemble something human, yet more animalistic. "What is that?" Venice gasped, she had never seen one summon something this big. "One of the Earthbound." Finally the monster stopped increasing in size (2800/2400). "Your true power.." Andre looked at his real face.

Shadows LP: 5700

_**"I claim your soul in Cusillu's name! Poison Fangs!"**_ Another spell was activated, the shadow started to drip a green liquid from its unseen mouth. _"Every time he does damage to me with a beast, I will lose 500 Lifepoints." _Andre began to see what the strategy was here_**"Attack!" **_The Earthbound brought his hand down, but the Archfiend moved to intercept it. _**"That will not work!"**_ However it phased through the Interceptor as if it were made from gas. "Oh no!" The hand came dangerously close to Andre. _**"The Immortal can not be stopped, it can attack directly at all times!" **_Quickly the duelist discarded a monster from his hand. "Battle Fader!" A clock-pendulum monster appeared (0/0). "By summoning this from my hand when the opponent attacks me directly, I can end the battle phase!" The fiend swung its bell, making a loud noise that pushed the black monster back _**"You did notice! Rahahaha.. Cusillu feels honored!" **_So the shadow held of its attack. It placed two traps face-down and ended its turn.

"I can do this." Andre thought, as he drew a card. "I attack!" Interceptor prepared itself. "Wait what are you doing, the Archfiend is weaker." The young male cried out. "I have a plan!" Unfortunately it seemed to have been stopped already, the Interceptor did not budge. "What?" The shadow in turn released a maddening cackle. _**"Idiot! You can not attack Immortality, the power is not to be touched!" **_Andre did not know about that part. "But then I should be able to attack him directly.." He protested, yet that did not work either. _"That monster of his is blocking all attacks?"_ Left with no choice he placed two cards face-down, placed one monster in face-down mode and switched Intercept Archfiend to defense. _**"It does not matter how many defenders you have, the Immortal bypasses all!" **_Now it was his turn, first he summoned a baboon-monster: Bazoo - the Soul Eater (1600/900). It seemed he liked to summon dark-elemental apes and monkeys. However soon he played a very cruel card. _**"Wild Nature's Release!"**_ This spell gave a Beast attackpoints equal to its defense, the Earthbound empowered itself (5200/2400). "Oh no, a direct hit from that.." Another attack came, this time the duelist had no defenses against it.

"Brother!" William shouted out loud as he watched his sibling crushed like a fly, poison dripping down on him. "It's okay Will, don't exert yourself." Venice tried to calm him. "I am allright." Andre coughed as he appeared completely intact, despite the attack. "This is not the kind of place where you die easily. Besides he just activated Intercept Archfiends effect." The footballer gathered energy in his hand and shot it at the Shadow. "Every time an enemy attacks, Intercept will damage them" The enemy lost 500 LP. "Now was it worth it? Your Immortal will die, as a result of Wild Nature Release's costs." He smirked. _**"It was, and it will be! Beast Soul Swap!"**_ Everyone flinched, the enemy flipped a trap. _**"Send one beast back to my hand, to summon one of the same level to the field!"**_ He dismissed his own Earthbound Immortal, just to call it back. This was how he avoided the cost of Wild Nature. _**"Continuous Trap card: Royal Decree!" **_He wanted nothing to stop his last attack. _**"Now die!"**_ It stretched out its sickening claw one last time. "Andre!" Yet again he summoned a monster during his opponents turn. "I told you. I was ready!" Blood dripped from his eyes, as he called out the Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow.

Andre's LP: 2900 Shadows LP: 5200

"When I received one direct attack, and am about to receive another, the Ogre is summoned from my hand! It gains the attack of the first direct attacker and all other attacks will have to go to him this turn!" Cusillu was forced to target the new fiend. _**"Gains strength? I think not!"**_ But to his shock and dismay, the Ogre did not gain points (0/0). _"Tsk. It's because the first direct attacker was sent back to his hand before the Ogre was summoned, even if both attackers are the same it wont work" _It might as well have been a direct attack. "Dishonest!" A dark angel appeared in front of Cusillu. "By discarding it when a dark monster is attacked, it will gain attackpoints equal to its opponent." The Bloody Ogre became just as strong as Cusillu (2800/0), now they would both die. _**"We said, we are immortal!" **_However as the two monsters clashed, Bazoo the Soul Eater started to sink into the swamp. _**"I sacrifice one underling, to negate the death of Immortality!"**_ The Earthbound was spared, the Ogre died at last. Though no battle damage took place, Cusillu lost another 500 LP from Intercept Archfiend, and Andre.. _**"And then when the sacrifice is complete, your life is halved!"**_ Was still drained. "Guh..." He was close to death too now.

Andre's LP: 1450 Shadows LP: 4700

"Andre.." William was still concerned, he had to get up and help him. "No Brother, stay. I can handle this." He gave him the same smile. "But.. this is my fault, I didnt know..enough." He was still very confused. "It is okay. You have already helped me a lot." He drew his next card and raised an eyebrow. "In more ways than even I anticipated." Now he flipped his facedown card. "Spell card, Curse of Fiend. During the standby phase I switch the positions of all monsters!" Intercept and Battlefader went to attack mode, the Earthbound to defense mode. _**"Sooo?!? You can not attack the Immortality, human!"**_

"Just watch me. I special summon a monster, Trap Eater!" An odd wide-jawed demon made its entrance, by eating Royal Decree. _**"What?"**_ This one could only be summoned by sending one face-up trap of the enemy to the cemetery. And there was more. "That is a.." It was a Tuner monster. "Since when can we summon Tuners?" Even Venice was surprised at this development. "Since he arrived." Andre flipped his set card, the Darkbishop Archfiend (300/1400). "Level 3 Dark Bishop, Level 1 Battle Fader, combine with the Level 4 Trap Eater!" The Eater dispersed into green energy rings, through which the Fader and Bishop flew. Eight stars were formed from them, which shaped a Level 8 Synchro monster. "Synchro summon: Dark End Dragon!" A black dragon(2600/2100) with a demonic face on its chest appeared.

"A Synchro monster?" Only William recognized it, yet he did not think Andre could summon one down here. "It's effect is this: By paying 500 of its attackpoints, it can destroy one monster on the field!" Dark End (2100/1600) opened its second mouth."_**"Nooo! Hssss" **_And the Earthbound was sucked into it, completely.. _**"You destroyed the Immortality, you wretched mortal!" **_The Shadow, shrunk back to plain tall size, seemed livid. _**"But it wont be enough, your two monsters can not get it all back!" **_Andre shook his head. "I will. Trap card: Lineage of Destruction!" He flipped his other set, Royal Decree could not stop it anymore. "When one of my monsters destroyed a defending card, like your Earthbound, a LV-8 monster on the field can attack twice." Now it became clear why Curse of Fiend was used. "Dark End Dragon is who I chose, it will attack twice this turn!" Intercept and Darkend Dragon launched an attack, pelting the monster with dark flames and blasts. The second dragon flame reduced the LP to zero.

Shadows LP: 0

_**"It tasted so nice, Rrrrrrr" **_Light rose from the black water, flowing into the body of William. He felt rejuvenated. _**"Rah! Keep your Ba, mortals. There will be more of you, nothing can stop the coming of the black hour." **_It began to sink into the lake, becoming one with the inky substance. _**"It is fine, I can wait a looooooong time.. Cusillu is immortal, all are undying!" **_At last he was gone, the lake became calm. "Wh-what was that.." Was Carters first question. "Just one of the stronger shadows of this realm. It feeds on life energy, both humans and spirits. Had we not saved you in time, he would have drained you entirely. Your soul would have been lost forever.." The stranger of the trio explained. "My name is Gerard, and it seems you already know these two." He pointed at Venice and Andre. "Y-yes. And you can't believe how happy I am to see you.. But I am confused. Why did you two end up here?" He knew they were dead, yet he did not think a human as kind as them would end up here.

"It's complicated brother. Suffice it to say that our history messed up our chances of seeing anything like pearly gates." He sighed and looked up into the sky. "Because we died in the Memory World, while brainwashedby Orichalcos magic, our souls were forced down here. This is the world where evil spirits and demons rest, the hell of duel monsters. In the end all beings here are corrupted by the darkness itself, becoming shadows like the one you just saw." Venice started to tremble. "We only survived for this long because we stayed together, put out combined lifeforce on the line. Down here you have to save your energy as much as possible, any wicked spirit could come up an try to drain you." Those were not fond memories. "It is only because of this that we lived.." Gerard showed his dueldisk. "They respect the game here. With the power of our memories we can make a deck to fight back." Any card they imagined would come up. "As for me, I do not remember how I ended up here. However, can you tell us how it happened to you?"

And so he did, he told them about Zakarias, Magus of Ka, the souls lost. "Oh maybe that's why I am here." Gerard sulked. He could very well be one of Zakarias's random victims. "I was not here too long, they found me first. But these enemies you speak off, they sent you here to keep the portal open?" He nodded. "But I expected to see some of them down here, all I find is innocents. Brother, have you ever seen someone like it?" He shook his head. "Sadly no, nothing that intelligent. But if what you say is true, we need to get out of here before they do." Carters expression changed into a hopeful one. "There is a way out?" Did he mean.. "Yes you were on the right track. That tall mountain in the distance is the connection between earth and this dimension. With your help we can fight our way to it, and confront whatever might be guarding the way out." They seemed certain it would be guarded, malignant or benign. "I can help?" He stood up. "You are the same us down here, you know how to play their game. Just will it.." Will thought about dueling and realized he suddenly too had a dueldisk on his arm, with a full 8000 LP. "Just will it huh. Nothing here is material so we can make whatever we wish." Or whatever they remembered. "Yes, as you just saw. Your memories helped me create the thing that beat the Immortal. You know more about the spirits and the human world than we do, and they do.. That will be our advantage.."

Back in the Human world..

"Everyone report to the sublevel." Marcus called upon all his apprentices and 'friends', because he had made a discovery he was willing to share. "What's the big news?" They came quickly, and hoped it would be good. "It seems my computer has found one more target for us to go after. Its's pinpointing its location as we speak. Perhaps you will recognize it.." He snapped his finger and the screens changed. "Oh?" Everyone looked surprised, what they saw as a golden ring with a pyramid in the middle. "It's the millenium ring. The Sixth Millenium Item.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 038: Up the Garden Path)

**Cards used by Andre Carter  
**Intercept Archfiend  
Battle Fader  
Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow  
Dishonest  
Trap Eater  
Dark Bishop Archfiend  
Dark End Dragon

-  
Curse of Fiend

-  
Lineage of Destruction

**Cards used by 'The Shadow'  
**Earthbound Immortal - Cusillu  
Bazoo the Soul Eater

-  
Mausoleum of the Emperor  
Poison Fangs  
Wild Nature's Release

-  
Beast Soul Swap  
Royal Decree


	38. Up the Garden Path

**New Testament 038: Up the Garden Path**

So they had found the next item, a golden Ring. "Is that one of those.." Elias guessed it was part of the series that also held his Puzzle. "Indeed. And a very convenient one at that. If what you said about the priests and memory world was true, this item has the power to find other Items. With my machines we can amplify that power and locate all other items." He seemed rather eager about it. "This is great, but where is it?" As Christine asked this, the screens changed again. "It's somewhere in France." They showed an open-area exhibit with an Egyptian theme. "That easy huh? How exactly did you come to find this place" Cleo was skeptic about the location. "Oh trust me, the details of the analysis would not interest you. It involves so many programs and contingencies." Simmons turned the screen off again. "What about the barrier, have they made any progress with it?" Nero asked quickly. "I fear not. Cable has left to convene with the new officer in charge, he will report back when they have some news, bad or good."

"Well we can not wait for that." Christine said. "She is right. If we can we find the Ring we can find all the other items with it." So the question was, who to send. "All of my eager apprentices will assist you in this matter." Ceasar and Madlyn smiled, Lydia shrugged. "Just don't expect us to do all the work." The Teacher then turned to another student. "It is also better if you stay here, Elias.. Prospero. Down here we can protect you in case Archon sends one of his projections. If he even knows we're here." But not everyone liked that idea. "Like we trust you with them chuckles, me and Colin are staying here too." Cleo snapped. "Oh by all means stay here with your new friend." He did not seem to mind, unlike Sairve. "Oh, I never get to go anywhere.." Meanwhile Nero approached Rose. "Ehr, Christine.. are you sure about this? I mean.." He was concerned, allthough physically she had almost completely healed, she had gone through a rough time with Archon. "We have to do this, Nero. Don't worry, I will be fine."

So they took the medical helicopter to their airport. It was a bit bigger than the military vehicles Archon had destroyed, but not as fast. "You'd think an ambulance with wings would go faster." Lydia was not very used to flying something like this. At least it could carry more people, Nero, Jackson and Christine had all come along to search for the Puzzle. "Now they said jet is being refueled at the gas station, after all we have used it a lot lately. So we're going to have to wait at least an hour before it can take off." So there was no rush anyway, that's what Ceasar was getting at. "Still, any delays will work to our disadvantage." Said Nero who would much rather be working with Cable to investigate the barrier around the city. "We understand that you want to save William, Nero. We all do, but we are going to have to trust on our friends and connections to come up with something." Jackson told him. At this point the airport came in view of the chopper. "Trust huh.." Something about that word sounded so inappropriate right now.

"All of this still feels so alien to me." Elias said as he walked down the halls of the empty filming studio above ground. "Golden items with magical powers, enemies from another world that can teleport and blow stuff up, ghosts from the past. And you are also telling me there was an evil company that stole souls and now we work for one of them.." It was like a nightmare that never seemed to end. "You will get used to it." Cleo said, half-sincerely. She was not even that used to it herself. "And if there is anything you need help with, we are here for you. Just do not misunderstand that sentence." She did not care for him in that way. "I myself was surprised too, Elias. But I have come to accept this new exiting world." Prospero said with a smile. "That is easy for you to say, you had that Item for your whole life. If anybody here would understand what was coming. It would be you." Colin remarked. Only a fortune teller would feel at home in this fantasy. "Ah but you should have seen it coming too, neh? A fellow diviner.."

"Ehr, I was wondering about this." Elias figured he might as well ask a question, indirectly breaking up some tension. "That guy said the Ring has a special power. Not a ghost of a king like mine does, but something else.. is that common for these 'Millenium Items'?" He held his puzzle, curious about what lied within. "I believe yours is a unique item, no other should have a spirit inside as the Pharaoh was the only one to put his soul in his own tool. As for the others." Cleo tried to recollect what each of them did. "Well the Key you saw has some vague powers of seeing evil or good within someone's heart. A glorified lie detector I call it. One of them could weigh energy and fuse it together, another could see into people's mind, and yet another could control people." Prospero stepped forward. "And then there is mine, my family heirloom." He showed the golden necklace once more. "It allows me to see into the future, anyone's destiny can be foretold... Unless they have a Millenium Item of their own apparently."

Colin twitched. "And you call me a bad diviner, you use that trinket all the time." Prospero turned around, unphased by his comment. "I'd expect you to say that, as those not favored by fate would think it is unfair. But the Tauk chose me, it sends its visions to me. I did not mean to insult you, Colin Sairve." That was what he said, yet he did not sound too upset about it. "Sir Gaines, as a fellow Item wielder, I think I should give you a proper demonstration of its power. You missed my first duel.." He looked at Colin again. "And if you feel some resentment against me, I will accept a duel from you. Then we can all see how wonderful the art of prediction is." The seer did not need to hear that twice. "You are on buddy." Cleo groaned and shook her head. "You walked right into that one. Can't you not feel insulted every time." Then again she'd probably want to duel Ceasar all over again if he made more of his inane utterances. "Well if would be nice to let someone else duel for once." The student grinned. "Good. Let's go to a less damaged site."

Though, as much damage as Conroy had caused to the building, it did nothing to the many hidden camareas Marcus had installed in various corners. "Oho?" He saw the four as they headed towards the upper floors. "This is exactly the kind of distraction I need. With them up there, my special agent ready, and Cable nowhere close enough to interfere, I will have enough time to set the plan in motion." He took his phone and sent a text message to a third party. "I am sorry old friend, but this has to be done. And in the end you should have seen it coming." He shut the phone, it was time to wait and see.

After the helicopter had landed, they walked towards the hangar bay of the airport. The plane was supposed to be placed there once its engines were filled upl. "Does that process normally take so long?" Nero asked himself as they all walked inside. "How should we know." Lydia however received a text message at that point. It was from Marcus, allthough she did not let anyone see what it said. "What is it?" Christine asked, and she turned to them. "Oh.. Apparently they were already done by the time we landed here, it should be ready and waiting." That flight must have taken longer than they thought. "Good." They continued their walk and entered the hangar. "It's rather dark in there.." They marched in through the narrow opening one by one, curious why the doors weren't wide open to accomodate for the jet inside, when the reason became clear.

"Wait.." Jackson turned around and tried to warn everyone. "Now!" Lydia yelled at Ceasar, who pressed a button on his remote. "A trap!?" They were closing quickly. "Why you.." To consumed with anger and confusion, Nero did not consider running for the exit. He might not have made it, but the one who came in last did. "You idiot, stop her!" Lydia shouted again, as Rose raced passed the male apprentice. "Wha." She was out before he could react, and then the hangar was completely sealed off. "Christine.." At least someone made it out, Jackson thought. "Let me guess, Marcus did not find the Ring after all.." He said to noone in particular. "Heh, 'fraid not. But you'd like to believe we did.."

"Guys?" Rose ascertained the silence behind her was not good news. "Oh no.." Her friends had failed to escape, and from this side she could not open the doors. _"What is going on, why did they do it!? Is this a plan of Marcus, or.." Banging against the walls did not _She realized the walls of the hangar were soundproofed, there was no way to know what was going on inside. _"We should not have trusted those two, they have been working with Simmons for too long."_ She had to call for help, though now she noticed how desolate the airport was. Did people work here at all today? _"I need a phone." _She did not have one herself, but the helicopter must have had some radio equipment. "Cable can help us." She ran off towards the helicopter in the distance, only to see someone was already there. "Madlyn?!" That's right, she was an apprentice of Marcus too, could she too be working against them. "Oh hey Rose, you look nervous. Did something happen?" She asked innocently enough. "Madlyn.. I need to call someone..."

"Sure." She also stepped aside all too easily. But when Rose stepped inside she found that the keys were missing and the vehicle had been set on standby mode. "Lydia must have them, curse her.." She stepped outside again. "Ehr, did you mean to call someone with the helicopter's radio, or this?" The girl showed her the cellphone she always carried around. "Yes I can use that! Tha.." But before she could express gratitude, Madlyn retracted the device and hid it in her dress. "Well come and get it yourself." She laughed. "Wh-what?" Rose was taken aback. And her concern grew when she saw the case in her hand. "Why do you.. have those dueldisks with you?" She momentarily stopped laughing just to reply. "Why do you think?" And then she ran off, towards the open fields around the airport. "Wait!" Christine followed her, because she still saw nobody else around that could assist her. Marcus really had set his trap well. "Stop!" Once they were both standing on a grassy hill, she complied. And turned to face her.

"Why are you doing this?" Rose knew that this girl was in on whatever trap was set. "To keep you from calling for help." She answered, though that was not the 'why' Rose wanted solved. "I mean, why this? Why trap us now?" Halliday stared at her and broke out in another laughing fit. "Ahaha, that's such a cute expression: interrogation-mode Christine Rose!" She unlocked the case and tossed one dueldisk inside to her. "If you want to help them, and yourself... you will need to show me what you can do in a duel." She placed her on her wrist, inserting her deck. "You are crazy.." Yet she had little choice. "And this feels.. different." The device was heavier than before. "Like it already? That's the type of dueldisk that Conroy was using. It's also the reason I am doing this job for the Teacher." The disk turned on its holographic grid. "The army-series? You are saying you want to cause pain with these tools?" Was she serious about any of this. "We will just see how you like it, Rose. Prove to me that you can also have thorns, ahee.."

"Drat, one got away." Ceasar rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. "Yeah she did, numbskull. If you spent less time looking at other girls.." Lydia said while facepalming. "Never mind, she is not our target here." Though she got over it quickly. "She is not?" Lydia quickly clobbered him in the head. "Don't you ever pay attention? You know what Marcus said to us!" They both looked at their remaining captives. "What did he say?" Jackson and Nero could not get out, Ceasar was controlling the remote. "Oh you can guess why we are after you, Jackson.." Doe placed his hand on his chest. "That's it. The Key, we know you have it. Cable gave it to you because he felt it would be risky to keep taking it with him that close to Archon." Sadly their deductive work was quite accurate. ".. Is this all about the key? You could have stolen it any time you wanted, why break up ties now? Why pretend you found the Ring, why drag us here?" Not even Nero expected Simmons to be this greedy. "It's because of your friend, William."

"What?"

"Allow me to explain: Marcus discovered a way to break the barrier before the army did. However what he found out would not have pleased any of you. You see.." The two already unlocked their cases and took out their dueldisks. "His plan would involve sealing the gate shut entirely, permanently stranding your friend on the other side." Nero gasped. "He can not do that!" This reaction they expected. "He can, you just don't want to accept that he is gone. However we knew you would never agree, hence this trap here. It will keep you from interfering." It seemed their views could not be reconciled. "Of course we first need to have your Key before anyone gets tossed out of the Teachers team. That's what this duel will be for. Jackson I challege you!" Ceasar activated his disk. "Not so fast, I am here too." Nero however had one with him as well. "As am I" Lydia stepped next to her companion. "We will not let you win without a fight at least." Doe too took out his cards. "Oh good, we seem to have ourselves a tagteam. This will be interesting."

(To be Continued in New Testament 039: Wings of Steel)


	39. Wings like Steel

**New Testament 039: Wings like Steel**

Christine's LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 8000

The girls standing amidst the long grass drew their cards. "I like this. No hesitation, no confusion about why I am challenging you, you accepted the duel right away. I am impressed enough to let you go first." All Madlyn really wanted was to attack first. "Fine." The girl added the sixth card to her hand. _"Nero already faced her once. I know what to look out for.."_ She placed one monster in face-down defense mode and placed two of her traps as well. "Your turn." The flower girl sounded saddened. "You are already scared? Perhaps I was wrong about you." Rose shook her head. "I am not hiding, it's just common sense to protect yourself against the first attack." But Madlyn laughed at her. "It's nonsense! Well against this card it is.." She entered her main phase. "Summon a tuner monster, Twilight Rose Knight!" She did not call out a plant, but a rose-themed warrior(1000/1000). "When this one is summoned, a level four or lower plant from my hand will follow." Rose realized she was preparing to summon 'it'. _"Already?"_

She special summoned the Lonefire Blossom(500/1400), but this was a level 3 plant. "_Is she going for Queen of Thorns instead? No_.." But the Blossom could tribute 1 plant to special summon another from the deck. "I sacrifice Lonefire itself to call the second!" One fire blossom disappeared only to be replaced with the same monster. "And again!" It happened once more. "And then I will sacrifice it for Botanical Lion!" Now came a level 4 monster, the wooden lion (1600/2000). "Here it comes, Synchro Summon!" She tuned the Knight with the Lion, to call a level 7 Synchro monster from her extra deck. "Black Rose Dragon!" The crimson dragon appeared, shrieking and sending rose petals all over the field. Rose actually felt some of them touch her cheeks. "I activate it's effect by removing 1 plant from the grave: Rose Restriction." One Lonefire Blossom was removed from play. Vines shot out of the dragon, constricting the set monster card. It was a shield-wielding Shield Warrior(800/1600). "Protection is useless against the Black Rose!"

It was forced to attack position and its attack was reduced to nothing (0/1600). "Can not hide..." The dragon unleashed a flare of energy. "Trap card: Defense Draw!" But Christine was ready. "This negates all damage I take from one attack, and allows me to draw one card." So while the Shield Warrior was killed, her lifepoints remained unharmed. "_This card.." _She also drew a spell that would give her an edge over the Synchro. "Aww. I wanted to see how you'd react to an attack with this kind of dueldisk." She sighed. "But if that's how you want to play me." Halliday placed two cards facedown as well, ending her turn. "My turn, draw!" Christine added a warrior to her hand. "I normal summon Julie-San the Warrior of Fire(1900/1700). And I equip her with Kajudoken." A bright blue aura surrounded the female warrior(2400/1700). "It adds 500 attackpoints to any warrior! Madlyn if you wanted to see me in battle, here is your chance." Julie charged a fire ball and threw it towards the Dragon. "So you want to taste suicide.. desperation tastes so sweet.."

_Kajudoken, Equip Spell  
__This card can only be equiped to a warrior-type monster, the equipped monster card gains 500 attackpoints.  
__Add a spell counter to the equipped monster card during each of your standby phases (Max 6). Increase the monsters attack points by 400 for each spell counter._

"Except.. your monster can survive its own demise by discarding a card from your hand. Tsk tsk, trying to fool me." Now she flipped one of her traps card. "Rose Blizzard; your monster is switched to defense and its skills are sealed." A storm of ice and roses erupted, with the dragon at its center and the unfortunate Julie was forced into a guarding stance. "Oh no." Without her effect, she was an easy prey for the restricting vines. "My turn?" And she could do nothing else, so with reluctance she passed her turn back to Halliday. "Oh do not feel too bad about it, our adventure together is just beginning." She eagerly went to the effects of her monster. "Rose Restriction." The Botanical Lion was removed from the grave, the vines returned to weaken Julie (0/1700) "Let's see if I can open some of your still healing wounds... Black Rose Flare!"

_Rose Blizzard, Normal Trap  
__Activate when a monster you control is selected as the attack target of an opponent's monster.  
__Switch the attacking monster to defense position. The monster's effect is negated._

Inside the hangar...

"Two against two sounds fair to me... Then here is the deal." Lydia took something from her pocket. "If we win, we take your key. If you win you take our key, simple no?" In her fingers twirled the ignition key to the helicopter. "You'd be surprised to see how easy it is to relocate personel once you have government backing. You will not find a single pilot here to take you." She stopped toying with it and put it back. "Tsch. Sounds to me like you had this trap planned for some time." They should have expected a betrayal. "The best laid plans and so forth." Ceasar also hid the remote to the hangar doors in his coat. "But enough talk. No matter what side one is on, haste remains essential." Everyone readied their disks and drew their cards. "The standard tagteam rules apply. Each team receives a full ten thousand lifepoints, when it drops to zero both players lose. Their turns will alternate, with us on the offense as the first and third. I shall start us off." He drew again. "Whatever happened to ladies first?" Blackstone grumbled.

Team Apprentice's LP: 10000 Team Millenium Key's LP: 10000

"Excuse my manners. I just felt it would be best for me to begin, to show them what lies in store. You see Marcus has improved my deck, given me a special series of cards." He must have wanted to take extra measures after one of his apprentices lost to Cleo. "Just play the card already." She snapped at him, and Nero could share her sentiments. "You yourself said time is of the essence." He nodded. "Again excuse, but I do love to elaborate. Anyway.. I normal summon Marauding Captain." And since the troop commander(1200/800) was summoned, he could special summon a lv-4 monster from his hand. "I special summons X-Saber Anu Piranha!" A blonde woman in red armor (1800/1100) appeared, a normal monster they had never seen before. "So that's your new series?" Jackson asked him. "You have seen nothing yet. Nero, my rival in name." He placed a trap and ended his turn. "I'll say." Nero was not impressed, but careful nonetheless. "I will set 2 cards in my magic/trap zone and 1 monster facedown. That is all."

"The warrior toolbox failed is outdated already eh?" Lydia was amused. "And you, still using the same deck?" He replied with a chuckle. "Of course, the Black wings are rated top-tier in the online community. And I always get the new additions first." She activated a continuous spell. "Black Whirlwind. Every time I normal summon a Blackwing monster, I can add another with less attack from the deck to my hand. Like this.." She normal summoned a level-5 monster, a humanoid dark feathered bird(2000/900). "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn. He be summoned without tributes when the opponent controls monsters and I do not." Then her spell turned on and it sucked out a Blackwing with 1400 attack from the deck, sending it to her hand. "I also place two cards in my trap zone. Now it is your turn, keeper of the key.."

"...We will face anything you throw at us." He said confidently, as he summoned his first Persona: Asura of the Sun (1400/1000). "Your schemes end today." Doe also played a continuous spell. "Cross Mind Fusion. We send ourselves, certain Personae, to the cemetery." He discarded the materials, four Symbols. "During our second standby phase what can be fused from these cards will take form!" Basically it was a Persona-specific Future Fusion, with less costs involved. "And here I thought your friend Cable had stopped making new Persona cards." Lydia smiled. "Ceasar, it's your turn. Do not disappoint us." She said as she would be very annoyed if they lost after all these set ups.

_Cross Mind Fusion, Continuous Spell  
__This card's effect does not change the effect of a 'Persona' monster card  
__Send, from your deck to the graveyard, fusion material monsters that are listed on a 'Persona' fusion monster card in your extra deck.  
__Special summon a fusion monster from your extra deck with the same name as the selected fusion monster during your 2nd standby phase after this card's activation.  
__(This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) When this card is removed from the field, negate the effects of the monster._

"I shall not. Allow me to show them a treat, Synchro summoning!" He summoned a Rescue Cat (300/100) to the field, a strangely not-at-all-warrior-like card. "If you ask me why, the answer will be this.." He sacrificed the kitten to special summon two level-3 beasts from his deck. "X-Sabers do not just include warriors or beast warriors." Two feral X-sabers(1600/200) appeared, with slashing knuckles. "X-Saber Airbellum, a tuner monster." Nero gasped, he understood the process by now. "Two tuners, and two non-tuners... that means..." The field was ready. "Indeed, a double Synchro Summon!" The Airbellums dissolved into green energy rings, through which Anu Piranha and Marauding Captain leaped.

"Level 3 Airbellum and Level 4 Anu Piranha, combine into the Level 7 X-Saber Urbellum!" To his left was a white knight with two swords (2200/1300). "Level 3 Airbellum and Level 3 Marauding Captain, combine into Goyo Guardian!" To his right was his favorite Synchro monster, the Japanese officer (2800/2000). "Goyo, destroy Nero's monster and take control of it! Urbellum kill Asura!" Urbellum slashed Asura to its death and the Guardian used its baton whip to crush Nero's face down Cross Porter(400/400), a cyborg warrior. "When Cross Porter is sent to the grave, its user can add a Neo-spacian to his hand!" Nero exclaimed as he added Grand Mole to his hand. "Very well. But I too activate an effect or two." Goyo Guardian ensnared Cross Porter, taking control of him. "Plus Urbellum discards a card from my enemy's hand, whenever he does damage and if he has 4 or more cards." Jackson was forced to toss one card away. "That one was for you, Lydia!" Ceasar winked at her, as he set two trap cards. "Ugh..."

Team Millenium Key's LP: 9200

Nero drew his cards. "Are you two even taking this seriously? If you think this is just a routine mission with no dire consequences involved, think again!" He summoned Grand Mole(900/300) to the field. "I activate Future Fusion!" He played the continous fusion spell, sending materials to his grave to fuse something two turns later. "Deja vu." This card was not unlike Doe's Cross Mind spell. "I choose this card: Elemental Hero Absolute Zero." That one was a combination of a water elemental and a Hero. "I send Bubbleman and E-Hero Neos into my grave. But there they serve another purpose!" He played a normal spell too, Oversoul. "I revive a normal Elemental Hero, E-Hero Neos!" The space warrior(2500/2000) appeared. "Contact fusion!?" Lydia knew what was coming, the Mole and the warrior fused into one being. "I call out Grand Neos(2500/2000). Finally I activate an equipment card." He equipped Grand Neos with Instant Neospace, so it would not return to the fusion deck. "Here I come!" Grand Neos sent a drill into the floor.

"Grand Neos can return 1 monster on the field to one's hand, I choose Goyo Guardian!" The officer was caught off guard by the underground attack and it left the field. "Smart, Synchros do not return to the hand but the extra deck." Now he entered his battle phase. "I attack your monster, Lydia!" However she smirked and discarded the card Black Whirlwind had given her. "I was hoping you'd do that! I discard Blackwing - Kalut the Moonshadow. Which will strengthen my monster!" Kalut's spirit intercepted the attack, and added 1400 attackpoints to Sirocco. The Dawn bird (3400/900) then countered and blew Grand Neos away. "But I had hoped you;d hope that! Trap Card." Charge of Hero - Reflector Ray was activated. "The opponents loses life, 300 times the level of the killed monster." Team Apprentice lost 7 times 300 lifepoints. "Instant Neospace is used as well, when a fusion monster dies, I can resummon E-Hero Neos from my deck." Neos(2500/2000) returned. "Be gone, Urbellum!" It immediately punched out the X-saber.

Team Apprentice's LP: 7600 Team Millenium Key's LP: 8300

"An impressive move, kid. Pity you aren't on my side while Ceasar is." Lydia followed his turn and summoned another humanoid winged beast. "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame(1800/1200)." With Black Whirlwind she added yet another Kalut to her hand. "I activate Sirocco's second effect, all Black Wing attackpoints will be added to one besides itself." That had to be Shura, who gained Sirocco's two thousand attackpoints (3800/1200) "Strike Neos down!" The bird flew into the air and dove into the space warrior, sending it against the walls. "Ugh." It died, but now Nero could use his second trap. "Hero Signal! I special summon one Elemental Hero from my deck." He summoned Neos Alius(1900/1300), a younger version of Neos. "That's cool, I will too. For when Shura does damage, it summons a Blackwing with 1500 attack or less from the deck." She special summoned the small bird, Gale of Hurricane(1300/400) "Wait, that's a tuner." Jackson feared her next move. "Of course! I have them too!..Proceed to main phase 2 for a Synchro summon!" Two winged warriors flew up and combined into one entity. "I tune Gale with Shura, level 3 with level 4. To make the Level 7 Blackwing - Armor Master!" It was an armored Blackwing(2500/1500).

Team Millenium Key's LP: 7000

"Your move, keykeeper." This looked bad, they just beat one Synchro only to face another. "Draw." Yet what he added to his hand upset him even more. "What is it Jack?" Nero noticed the change in behaviour. "This can not be in our deck..." The symbolist said to himself. "This monster is.. not ours." He looked down at a card none of his personalities recognized. "How can you not know your own cards? Just play it and move on." Lydia said impatiently. "That is the only way to find out." Doe placed the monster on the field, and Nero too had never seen that one before. "What the." Neither did Lydia and Ceasar. "That's new." It was a Persona, but not a symbol. It looked like a ghostly female with long hair, while the rest of her body was missing. "Reflection of the Hermit, Yomotsu Shikome?" This card was exactly the opposite of a Symbol, even the way it's effects worked was reversed. _"Did Cable make this for me.. to replace." _He read that this was a Hermit card, just like Arahabaki. _"When did this become a part of us?"_

_Yomotsu Shikome, Reflection of the Hermit, 4/1300/2000 Machine/Dark/Persona  
__The following effects are negated depending on the last card effect's type that was activated. (This effect does not stack)  
__Monster: This monster can not be destroyed as a result of battle.  
__Spell: This card can not be destroyed as a result of spell card effects.  
__Trap: This card can not be destroyed as a result of trap card effects._

(To be Continued in New Testament 040: The Ides of Sanity)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**Shield Warrior

-  
_Kajudoken_

-  
Defense Draw

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Twilight Rose Knight  
Botanical Lion

-  
_Rose Blizzard (+)  
__(+ Based on the trap used by Aki in Yugioh 5D, improved a little too)_

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Cross Porter  
Elemental Hero Neos Alius

-  
Charge of Hero - Reflector Ray

**New Cards used by Jackson Doe  
**_Yomotsu Shikome, Reflection of the Hermit_

_-  
__Cross Mind Fusion_

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**X-Saber Anu Piranha  
Rescue Cat  
X-Saber Airbellum  
X-Saber Urbellum

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow  
Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame  
Blackwing - Armor Master

-  
Black Whirlwind


	40. The Ides of Sanity

**New Testament 040: The Ides Sanity**

Colins LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000

The duel between Prospero and Colin had started on the landing platform of the TV-studio, as they did not expect to see one land there soon. "Lets play a game." Prospero merely set one monster facedown.. "See if you can predict what I have face-down." And passed his turn to Sairve. "Oh no, why dont you play my game!" He however played a favorite of this. "Reasoning! You must call a level and then.." He started drawing cards from his deck. "Seven." The fortune teller said calmly. "What?" And Sairve saw in his hand, a level seven monster: Greed Quasar. "That means it is discarded right?" He smirked and Colin threw the card away. "He passed that test." Cleo sighed. "So he used his Tauk to see what would happen?" Elias would be impressed if that was true. "Grrr. I summon Herald of Creation(1800/1600)." Colin entered his battle phase. "I attack your set!" The prophet monster fired a spell at the facedown Psychic, yet it was bounced back to her master as its defense (0/2200) was higher then his attack. "You struck Mind Protector eh." Colin suffered 400 points of damage. "It looks like you failed my test. You can not see much of anything can you?" He probably would not even be able to see what would happen to his friends soon..

Colins LP: 7600

Cable did not know about it either, yet he got a strange feeling during his time at the barrier investigation. "Is something the matter?" One of the soldiers present asked him. "No, I feel fine." He lied and walked back to the encampment. "_This feeling, it is familiar to me somehow.. Just like the first time."_ If it meant what he thought it did, Jackson was in trouble. He tried to call him, but the phone gave no answer. "That's odd." He also tried to make calls to Nero, Christine or even Marcus. But none of them replied.. or wanted to reply. "_Something is going on back there." _He knew they were searching for the Millenium Ring right now, but that was about all he had heard. _"There is a chance... but Marcus could not have..."_ And the fear that Simmons had betrayed them started to sound very real. "_Damn it, the three items..are not safe"_

Team Apprentice's LP: 7600 Team Millenium Key's LP: 7000

"The dueldisk accepted it, that indicates it is an official card. If it pleases you, we will ask the Teacher about it." Ceasar told the one who had just summoned something he did not recognize. "Stop trying to help them idiot. We have to leave them behind after this." Lydia snarled at her partner. "Excuse me, my dear. I can not help but feel pity." Ceasar sighed and kept his mouth shut. "A new Hermit, a new fragment of our mind?" Jackson looked at the card, Yomotsu Shikome(1300/2000) was strangely non-responsive. "Jack, will you be.." Nero was worried for his body and mind, but he shook it off. "We must press on, we will investigate this later." He played a spell card, Evoker, to revive the Chariot Symbol Thor (3000/1800) from his grave. "One of the cards you sent to the grave for your fusion eh?" However Evoker would send it back to the grave during the endphase. "Now let us see what the new one can do." Doe sent Yomotsu to kill the Cross Porter(400/400) that Ceasar had stolen earlier with Goyo Guardian. "Thanks." Nero could reuse Porters effect, so he added a Neo-Spacian to his hand. "But you activated my trap: Counterattack Beacon!" Suddenly Black Wing - Armor Master flew straight towards the Hermit monster.

_Counterattack Beacon, Normal Trap  
__Activate only when a monster you control is destroyed by an opponent's attacking monster. One monster you control gains 500 ATK and must battle with the opponent's monster_

"So you had some good traps after all, Ceasar." The armored winged beast took revenge and gained new strengths (3000/1500). It sent its clawed fist into the bodiless head of Shikome. "But since the last effect you activated was a trap card, her spell and monster effects remain intact. Yomotsu can not be killed in battle now!" The Reflection phased through the attack, letting Jackson take the hit. "Does not seem to care much for you though, Jackson." Lydia laughed. However as Armor Master flew back to her side, it left one of its talons wedged in the hair of Yomotsu, a counter. "We are not done attacking. Thor attacks the Dawn!" The lightning god swing his hammer down on Blackwing - Sirocco. "You never learn do you!" Yet all she had to do was discard her second Kalut Blackwing to empower her Bird(3400/900). "But this turn two monster effects and one trap effect were activated, my attack will rise each time!" Thor added lightning to his hammer (3900/1800). This shocking clash destroyed Sirocco at last.

Team Apprentice's LP: 7100 Team Millenium Key's LP: 5300

"I set a trap and end my turn..our turn." Thor was sent back to the graveyard. "Well that was fun. But now it is time to show them how our side works together. I summon the X-Saber Uruz!" A red samurai (1600/1000) was his next X-saber. "Lydia, if you will." He again winked at her. "Feh, since you ask so nicely." Lydia snapped her fingers, and something started to crack. "What?" Jackson realized it was his own monster, Yomotsu's attack was reduced to zero (0/1000). "Anything that survives the attack of Armor Master will be given a Wedge Counter. Then during our turns I can choose to remove the wedge, to reduce that cards attack." Uruz took out both its scimitars. "Now that a monster effect is used, her resistance to physical damage is taken away. So cleave it, Uruz, and ease his rattled mind!" Thus the X-Saber sliced the unknown Hermit to pieces. Already Jackson started to regain his composure, which Lydia noticed. "Hey Ceasar, your monster has an effect right? To send any monster it killed back to the deck."

Team Millenium Key's LP: 3700

"Ehr.. True. But Uruz will have to die then." He did not want to expose himself. "Just do it. Armor Master can not be killed as a result of battle, it will defend us both." She smirked. "Alright." He tributed Uruz, so Yomotsu was sent back to the top of Jacksons deck. "Tsk." He was still not rid of the mysterious Persona. "My.. turn!" Nero had enough of their mind games. "I discard Vice Captain Silver from my hand to gain the field spell: Skyscraper 2." He quickly activated the city card, filling the hangar with futuristic towers. "Once per turn I can revive a E-Hero fallen in combat. That includes.." He revived the fusion monster Grand Neos(2500/2000). "What? Isn't he a nomi monster?" Lydia protested. "Didn't you know, Contact fusions can be revived if properly summoned first." Which Grand Neos was. "Now you said your Blackwing can not be destroyed in battle, so I chose to return it to your extra deck!" Grand Neos borrowed underground again to push the Synchro bird back into Lydia's extra deck. "I have heard enough from you!"

Grand Neos and E-Hero Neos Alius targeted both opponents. "If only we had a monster to shield us right now." Ceasar said with an obvious hint of sarcasm. "Don't talk to me like I do not know what I am doing." She flipped one of her traps, Windstorm of Etaqua. "The positions of all monsters on my opponents field are changed!" Both Alius and Grand Neos were blocked by severe winds. "But your other trap.." Ceasar knew her second trap could have done more damage. "Quiet, idiot. Don't spoil the surprise!" Nero had failed to damage them. "During my endphase Grand Neos will return to the extra deck." Grumbling he set a trap and ended his turn, the fusion was dismissed. "Heh, my turn! I normal summon Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North." This time she called out a small white bird(1300/0), and it was a tuner. "Its effect allows me to revive one level 4 or lower Blackwing!" From her cemetery came Shura the Blue Flame(1800/1200). "Next, when I control a Blackwing, Bora the Spear(1700/800) can be special summoned!"

"Finally. When three Blackwings dominate my field, I can play this trap from my hand: Delta Crow - Anti Reverse!" The three birds joined in a delta formation. "It destroys all set traps and spells!" The pair gasped, this would leave them powerless. "Only set cards?" Jackson said coldly as he flipped his trap. "Tsk, that is true. Reversing it will save it." Nero could not reveal his trap, but Doe managed to activate Creation of One's Mind. "This trap revives a Persona from my graveyard, I choose Thor again!" The Lightning lord was resurrected for the second time in defense mode. "Feh, guess what I added to my hand." Once the Delta storm ended, she showed the third Kalut that Black Whirlwind had given her. "Now, Synchro Summon! I tune the level 2 Blizzard with the level 4 Shura." This time two Blackwings combined into a level 6 Synchro. A bird with a large rifle (2300/1000). "Black Wing Armed Wing, when it attacks a defending monster it gains 500 attackpoints." Thanks to her Wind-trap Nero's monsters were in defense mode too. "And both Bora and Armed Wing inflict piercing damage. I attack both monsters!" A Kalut-empowered Spear (3100/800) impaled Thor's chest, while Armed Wing shot a dozen holes through Neos Alius.

Team Millenium Key's LP: 1200

"Now you know why I used that trap Ceasar. To pierce to the heart of the matter, heh." She ended her turn, as she had no more cards in her hand. "Ggh, draw." And due to Uruz, Jackson had to draw Yomotsu Shikome a second time. "_We will not use her again." _At this point at last, Cross Mind Fusion finished its effect. "We sent Chariot, Temperance, Tower and Star into the cemetery, to fusion summon a Hierophant!" Four personalities combined into one being, a great chinese dragon(3500/3000). "We are Kohryu!" It swirled around the hangar, eager to inflict destruction. "Interesting." Then they summoned Mother Harlot, symbol of the Empress(1600/1400). "The last activated effect was that of the monster Armed Wing. So we can discard one card and declare one monster type." They threw away the Reflection. "Winged Beasts!" The Empress cackled as she sent a wave of death energy across the field to kill Armed Wing and Bora the Spear. "Monsterless again?" Ceasar moaned. "I do not fear you, Jackson. Strike at me!"

_Kohryu, Symbol of the Hierophant, 10/3500/3000 Light/Dragon/Persona/Fusion  
__Byakko, Symbol of the Temperance + 3 other 'Persona' monsters  
__This monster can only be summoned through a fusion summon made with the above fusion material monsters.  
__This card gains the following effects depending on the last card effect's type that was activated, excluding the effect of a Persona monster.  
__Monster: This monster is unaffected by your opponent's monster card effects.  
__Spell: This monster is unaffected by your opponent's spell card effects.  
__Trap: This monster is unaffected by your opponent's trap card effects._

The Personae did not hesitate, Kohryu released a stream of wind energy at the girl in black. "Lydia..will you use it now?" Ceasar panicked. "Fools, all of you. Trap card: Blackwing - Backlash! When I receive a direct attack while five or more Blackwings are in my cemetery, I destroy all monsters they control!" Five beams of different colors shot out of the grave, raining down on Jacksons field. "Hehe..wait." Yet only the Harlot perished, Kohryu survived and its attack hit her dead on. "Gaaah!" That took out nearly half of their life. "We adapted the second that trap was used." Jackson was pleased with the results.

Team Apprentice's LP: 3600

"Then is is up to yours tuly." Ceasar summoned a new X-Saber, a blacksmith soldier. "Tuner monster: X-Saber Pashuul(100/0)." Then he flipped his trap card. "Gottoms Emergency Call: When I have one X-Saber already, this trap resurrects two more X-Sabers!" He special summoned both bestial X-Saber Airbellums from the grave. "Three tuner monsters? But you can not Synchro summon without non-tuners." Lydia hissed at him. "That's what I have this spell for, so relax." He played a card called: Forgotten Melody. "I can choose a Tuner or two, and treat them as Non-tuners." He selected one of the Beasts. "Another Double Synchro?" He then tuned both Airbellums together. "Level 3 with Level 3, form the Level 6 Synchro: XX-Saber Hyunlei!" A duel-wielding visor wearing swordsman (2300/1300) emerged from the extra deck. "Double X?" And it unsheathed one of its swords, shattering Future Fusion, Cross Mind Fusion and Skyscraper 2 in an instant. "When synchro summoned, Hyunlei destroys up to 3 spells or traps on the field."

_Forgotten Melody, Normal Spell  
__Select up to 2 tuner-monster cards, they are treated as non tuner-monsters while they are face-up on the field._

Luckily while Nero's fusion would not hit the field anymore, Kohryu remained. "Cross Mind's absence will erase only its effects." The dragon spirit explained. "Fine by me, I still have a level 2 tuner!" He tuned Pashuul together with Hyunlei to form a level 8 Synchro. "Colossal Fighter(2800/1000) It will gain 100 attackpoints for every dead warrior... Including E-heroes!" There were 5 X-Sabers, 4 Elementals, 1 Persona and 1 Marauding Captain. "Thanks Nero."The gigant powered up (3900/1000), becoming the Hierophant's superior. "Attack." The dragon was punched in two by Ceasar's monster. "Ggh, gone again." Thus he ended his turn, leaving them with nothing. "Draw." But at least now Nero could activate his spell. "Convert Contact, I discard a Neo-spacian from my hand and deck." He discarded Black Panther and Aqua Dolphin. "To draw two new cards." And he hoped one of them could turn the tide. "Well, anything good?" Lydia asked confidently. ".. Better. I will summon my greatest fusion now. This monster is fused from 5 cards, Neo-spacians, Neos and Elemental!" He played the spell Miracle Fusion and removed Bubbleman, Neos, Neos Alius, Vice Captain Silver and Aqua Dolphin from the cemetery. "Come out Divine Neos!"

Team Millenium Key's LP: 900

A godlike golden warrior(2500/2500) hit the field, lighting up the dark playing field. "Divine Neos?" Did Cable make that card as well? "Once per turn, Divine Neos can integrate the effect of another Elemental or Neo-spacian. Gaining its effect and 500 attackpoints" There was only one in his grave right now, the Black Panther. "He will copy my monsters effect too?" The golden fusion (3000/2500) copied Dark Panther's effect, who in turn copied Colossal's(3500/1000) effect. It gained attack for every remaining dead warrior (3700/2500). "And to finish it, Neos Force!" He equipped Divine Neos with a spell that empowered it even further (4400/2500). "Oh you can not be serious, if he kills your Synchro now." Neos Force would inflict effect damage, equal to the attackpower of the slain enemy. "You can not get the Millenium Key, and you will not doom William! Let divinity stop your plans for good!" The Neos unleashed an aura of holy energy, it engulfed the Colossus. "Wooaaah!" And Ceasar received enough damage to lose the game.

Team Apprentice's LP: 0

(To be continued in New Testament 041: Welcome to the Jungle)

**New Card used by Prospero  
**Mind Protector

**New Card used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Divine Neos

**New Card used by Jackson Doe  
**Kohryu, Symbol of the Hierophant

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**X-Saber Uruz  
X-Saber Pashuul  
XX-Saber Hyunlei

-  
_Forgotten Melody_

-  
_Counterattack Beacon (+)  
_Gottoms Emergency Call

_(+ Based on the card used by Yusei in Yugioh 5D)_

**New Card used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North  
Blackwing - Armed Wing

-  
Windstorm of Etaqua  
Delta Crow - Anti Reverse  
Blackwing - Backlash


	41. Welcome to the Jungle

**New Testament 041: Welcome to the Jungle**

Black Rose Dragon seemingly burned Christine's monster to the ground, the rose flames scorcing even the grass itself. "Hm?" Yet all that fire began to grow weaker, sucked inwards by a mechanical shield. "Draining Shield." It was Rose's second trap, it negated the attack by converting attackpoints into healing energy. "Oh you saved your monster and gave yourself more vitality. Well that just means there is more to strike away! You only made the duel longer and more exciting!" Madlyn summoned a new monster to her field, a girl whose body and hair were covered with carnivorous plant leaves. "Botanical Girl (1300/1100) is summoned, and my turn ends."

Rose's LP: 10400 Madlyns LP: 8000

"Draw." Julie's attack also returned to normal (2400/1700) and then she gained 400 more attackpoints from Kajudoken (2800/1700). "I summon Red Claw(1800/1600) and attack your two monsters!" At last the terrifying Rose Dragon was destroyed by Julie's flame blasts. This time Rose did not even need to discard a card to save her. "Trap card: Plant Food Chain." However Madlyn flipped a trap, vines surrounded the plant girl. "This card empowers my plants by 500 points." Now she (1800/1100) was just as strong as the Red warrior. "I do not think so, Madlyn. Red Claw can destroy a trap once per turn!" The monsters claw reached the Botanical one, swiped through the traps vines and killing her. "Actually I did not think so either." However this triggered the second effect of the Food Chain. "When destroyed while equipped, this trap will revive one of the lost fauna." The girl withered and died, as a new plant sprouted from the ground. "I renew the seed of Lonefire Blossom (500/1400)" Christine realized the trap was merely a diversion.

Madlyns LP: 7100

When Botanical Girl died, Madlyn also gained a plant with 1000 def or less from her deck. "Congratulations.. You survived one Black Rose. I have plenty more.. but for now." She sacrificed Lonefire Blossom to special summon a plant from her deck. "My vegetation will do. I call out Gigaplant, the gemini monster." A large Venus flytrap monster (2400/1200) appeared. "Since its a Gemini, its effect will work after I do this." She 'normal summoned' the Gigaplant already on her field, to unseal its powers. "Gigaplant can revive one plant or insect per turn." The plants roots burrowed into the ground, digging out Lonefire Blossom all over again. "This time I sacrifice the Blossom for the strongest seed in my garden." Lonefire burst into flames again, and the Camellia princess (2800/2600) took its place. "_Tytannial, Nero had to face that card." _She was just as strong as Julie. "Since you like suicides so much.." Tytannial sent camellia petals towards the Fire warrior. "_Oh no.. her effect is still negated due to Rose Blizzard."_ Julie could only counter and cut down the Princess before she died too. "And now to let you feel sweet sweet pain." Gigaplant shrieked, rushed towards Red Claw and swallowed him whole. "Gah!" Christine suffered the consequences.

Rose's LP: 9800

"How was it?" She asked with perhaps a bit too much interest. "Did it feel as real as a venomous thorn?" Rose glared at her. It did feel that way, and she did not like it. "This device he made, what purpose does it even serve. Besides to cause agony?" Madlyn shrugged, placing a trap and ending her turn. "Well if you want to cause it, you should also receive it." Christine summoned Kyle Baxter(1200/2000) to her field, in face-up defense mode due to its effect. "Direct attack." Kyle could snipe an enemy directly if it was defending. "Hhhngh." The holographic bullet passed right through her, producing a painful shock to her nerves to simulate the feel of a real bullet. "Ahaha.." Yet after she regained her senses, she smiled at her opponent. "You do know how to treat a lady." She touched the agitated shoulder, causing her to shiver. "Yes that felt good, this makes one feel alive." Rose was put off by her behaviour. "You're serious about this.." She placed a trap and ended her turn. "Of course...Anyway, now the real sensation begins."

Madlyns LP: 5900

Without warning she activated two spell cards from her hand, and one trap. Trees surrounded the two duelists. "Spell Card, Spiritual Forest: From now on the first plant or beasts to be attacked will not be destroyed." Black thorned vines crawled between the trees. "Field spell, Black Garden. You may remember this one.." And tentacles from the soil shot up to grab and infect Kyle, turning his skin green. "Continuous Trap, Ivy Shackles: All monsters on your field become plants during my turn." Now her deadly game could enter phase two. "Gigaplant revives Lonefire Blossom again." Black Garden reacted to this. "Any summoned monsters attack will be halved, and a token will be given to its adversary." The fire plant grew weaker (200/1400), while a Garden token (800/800) was seeded next to Kyle. "I sacrifice Lonefire to special summon Wall of Ivy." The Ivy monster's arrival (150/1200) gave Rose a second token. _"Why is she giving me tokens? Can it be.."_ Christine's concerns were answered soon. "Now I tribute Ivy Wall, for a normal summon.."

A level 6 card appeared. "Come, Rose Tentacles." It was the infamous one-turn kill plant. Even its power was cut by the Garden (1100/1200), yet the effect remained fearsome. "Yes for every plant on the field, Rose Tentacles gains 1 attack." She had four plants on her field, including Kyle. "Five attacks!" Gigaplant attacked first, trying to devour the Sniper. "Monster effect!" But Rose removed a warrior in her cemetery from play. "I can remove Shield Warrior, to negate the death of one monster." A shield was jammed in between Gigaplants jaws, allowing Kyle to escape its teeth. "So it survived. Good for him.." Rose Tentacles could not bypass Kyle's defense, instead it sent three of its tentacles to smash through the tokens. "Every Plant it kills, will deliver 300 damage to their controller." And since they were in attack mode, each hit took down 600 of Christine's lifepoints. "Gyaah!" All three tentacles scraped passed her, cutting her cheeks and arms. "Poor girl, you just healed from that Silver Knights attack too." Madlyn giggled.

Christine's LP: 8000

"You.." Her hands trembled as she added her next card to her hand. "How can you... enjoy this feeling? How can you enjoy giving it!" She attacked again with Kyle Baxter, giving her another direct hit. She would have liked to kill Rose Tentacles instead, but the Spiritual Forest spell ruined that wish. "How can you not, are you really that weak, that frail?" Madlyn did not even seem phased by the second bullet, as if she was bored with it. "Are you really that scared? I thought you liked playing these games.. having these adventures." Christine twitched. "I am not affraid!" She placed one monster in face-down defense mode. She did not feel like giving Halliday a Garden token.

Madlyns LP: 4700

"Yes you are. But not of me... you fear the power itself.." Gigaplant revived Botanical Girl this time, restarting the Black Garden reaction. Her normal summon this turn was Copy Plant (0/0), the card she had taken from her deck with Botanical Girls effect. "A tuner?" It's attack could not be halved, yet Christine gained a token(800/800) anyway. "Yup. It copies the level of one plant on the field, including plantified monsters." The moss monster imitated the form of Baxter, gaining its four levels. "Seven levels?" She counted up what could be tuned together. "Time to synchro summon the second Black Rose Dragon!" Copy Plant and Botanical Girl were united into the fire dragon(2400/2000). Luckily the Synchro too was affected by the field spell (1200/2000). Unluckily since three cards were summoned, Rose had a total of three tokens on the field. "I remove Wall of Ivy in my cemetery to flip your facedown monster." Black Rose Dragon ate the spirit of Ivy Wall, and used its rose vines to restrict Christine's defending Eric Baxter (0/1700).

Eric was also turned into a plant-type by Ivy Shackles. "Five Plants on the field. Six attacks.." Six tentacles were raised. "This will be a feast." She licked her lips. "Attack!" The battle began, Gigaplant could finally gorge itself on Kyle, while Black Rose Dragon incinerated Eric. "Both Baxters gone, the tokens remain!" Rose Tentacles lashed out with half of its arms, utterly destroying the Garden seedlings, hitting Rose for 600 effect/physical combined damage each time. "Three tentacles remain.. I will not restrain them." And to the duelists horror, the remainder grabbed her by the arms and waist. "What are you doing?" She could not move, her body was numbed somehow. "Attack you directly, flowery Rose. Three times.." The monster hologram then energy through its arms, which shocked her enough to throw her to the ground. "..." She breathed heavily, her heart beating like a train. "Perhaps I picked the wrong target for the test." Halliday placed one trap card on her field. "I will not blame you, if you want to quit.."

Christine's LP: 1700

"Quit?" She managed to spit out between breaths. "And let you get away with this.. you and your friends." One step at a time, Christine stood up right. "I will not, and can not quit. I already failed William, I will not fail Nero and Jackson." She was about to draw her next card. "How can you say that, when you do not even know what we want?" The girl flinched. "What?" Because she indeed did not fully understand what she was trying to stop. "What do you want from me?" She asked carefully. "Something you do not deserve, something a more battle-ready duelist can use.." Though her true need could be inferred from what was said, hearing what it was would be put aside. "Huh?" During this turn, a golden light erupted from the insides of the hangar at the airport. "What are they doing?" It came from the tagduel for the Millenium Key!

Ceasars ace Synchro had just been destroyed by Nero's Divine Neos. "You idiot, you cost us the game!" Lydia hissed, as both their lifepoints had dropped to zero. "Excuse.. me.." But the black-coated one suffered the defeat more than her, as it was his dying monster, and fell to the ground. "We did it!" Nero cheered. "You finished him though." Jackson said with less enthusiasm. "Yes but I could not have done ity without you.. ehr all of you." They turned their attention back to the apprentices. "You know the deal Lydia. Get us out of here.." By now Lydia had approached the fallen Ceasar, she almost seemed to pity him. "Oh, you do care.." He coughed as she held his hand. "Yeah.. no." Her sad expression turned into a scowl, as she took the door remote from his hands. "Oof!" And kicked him in the stomach for good measure. "What?" Then she used it to open the backdoor, running towards it. "Ha! You can have the key to the helicopter, I have more of them.." She yelled as she tossed one key at them, before she escaped through the exit.

"No!" Nero rushed towards it, however she had already locked the door from the other side before he got to it. "Damn it, she trapped us again!" She even abandoned her supposed comrade. "Is there another way out?" Jackson asked the cringing Ceasar, wincing from the pain. "Ugh, affraid not. Now I know why she chose this place." He managed to sit up. "In this case I do not mind telling you this.. but we were just a distraction in the end." Nero approached him again. "What? You did not want the Millenium Key?" What was he supposed to distract them from. "That would have been a nice bonus, but we were really after Christine. Since she escaped, Madlyn must have caught her." The two had unfortunately not thought about Halliday until now. "Why her?" Was their next question. "Isn't it obvious.. she has the Hermos card."

Colins LP: 7600 Prospero's LP: 8000

Back at the TV-studio, Colin had just attacked a Mind Protector(0/2200), whose defense was too much for his monster. "Why did you summon that facedown anyway. It says on the card that Mind Protector can not be attacked by monsters with less than 2000 points." Like his Herald(1800/1600). "Because I knew you'd attack me and hurt yourself. Then again if I had known you better, I would not have needed the Tauk to make that prediction." He smirked. "What, a call now?" Unexpectedly Cleo's phone went off. "It's from Ceasar?" When Prospero heard this, he lost his smile. "I know I shouldn't. But let's see what the fool has to say now." Yet it was not his voice he heard on the other end. "Huh, Nero.. what is wrong?" Now everyone looked at her. "Nero is calling? Did they find the Ring already?" Sairve wondered. "Nobody can get to France that fast." Elias doubted it. Only the Psychic was silent. "He did? That bastard!" She suddenly cursed, and turned to the others. "Marcus tried to pull a fast one, his lackeys trapped our friends."

Everyone gasped. "What? You mean the Ring was a sham? Then screw this. We have to give Marcus a piece of our mind." Colin was about to discard the disk, yet he only came as far as budging it. "Hey.. it will not come off." Try as he might, it did not move. "I would not disrupt our duel if I were you." Prospero said with a sudden serious tone. "!?" All eyes were on him. "I regret to inform you, but this duel is not just for Elias's sake." The student did not understand this. "You too? When did the Great Prospero become a servant of Simmons?" Prospero chuckled. "Ever since he gave me this new deck, my dear. And the promise to become famous as the worlds greatest hero." He pointed at his opponent. "For that I need your card, Sairve. That was why I goaded you into dueling me. The disks we are using right now are customized lock-types, which wont come off until you lose or win." But he already knew who would win. "A Hero?" He nodded. "To destroy the shield, to drive back the Silver Pillar. To perform those heroic deeds, we need your card."

"We will reunite Timaeus with Critias and Hermos."

(To be Continued in New Testament 042: Future's Least Favorite)

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Botanical Girl  
Gigaplant

-  
Spiritual Forest

-  
Plant Food Chain  
Ivy Shackles


	42. Future's Least Favorite

**New Testament 042: Future's Least Favorite**

"Prospero works with you too?" Nero asked Ceasar, who had given him his phone to use. "He was easy to convince, especially since he became the favorite of the Teacher." Nero turned back to the phone "Cleo. We will try to get as soon as possible, in the mean time keep Elias safe. Do not give Marcus the Puzzle under any cirrcumstances." He hung up afterwards. "Tsk. Everyone is out to betray us." Lydia had even betrayed her own partner. "We both want to stop the same enemy, why does Marcus create internal strife." Jackson sighed. "It might be possible, that he simply hates us..."

Colins LP: 7600 Prospero's LP: 8000

_"_You want Critias? Why not just ask, instead to this whole charade?" Colin knew Marcus was once 'evil', but why go through all of that again. "It's complicated. But I will explain." Prospero said as his turn began. "Carter's body was left behind, yet even in death Timaeus protected him. Marcus stipulated that the power of Atlantis can break the magic of Ka. By combining Hermos, Timaeus and Critias together, and causing an explosion of energy, the barrier around Archon will be destroyed." He drew a card and payed 500 LP to keep Mind Protector on the field. "That will also destroy the three dragons, wont it." Cleo rasped. "And where does this hero business enter the equation?" She demanded to know. "I do not want to spoil the surprise, for those that can not see the future and all." He laughed. "Now then, where were we?"

Prospero's LP: 7500

"Ah yes." He summoned a new Psychic monster, a brain in a floating robotic body. "Tuner Monster: Mental Master(100/200). By paying 800 lifepoints, it can tribute 1 Psychic for another level 4 or lower Psychic from the deck." He payed the 800 points, and tributed the Protector. "I special summon Telekinetic Shocker." A charged up astronaut-like psychic appeared(1700/700). "The Master is level 1, the Shocker is level 4: I combine them into the level 5 Magical Android!" The two were used for the Synchro summon of the psychic android (2400/1700). "Do you apprentices all devolve to mindless Synchro spamming?" Sairve cursed, right before his Herald of Creation (1800/600) became a pile of ashes at the hands of the Android. "It is the new generation, Colin. You yourself needed it to beat Conroy, or can you not even tell the past anymore?" During the endphase his monsters effect activated, giving him 600 lifepoints for every Psychic on the field. "I can, and believe me, there is a lot I'd rather forget." Now it was his turn.

Colins LP: 7000 Prospero's LP:7300

"Besides, I thought Cleo had shown you what Marcus did in the past, didn't you read that article?" Cleo nodded, and even Elias had read it. "Oh I read it. But ask yourselves this, why would the Great Prospero do all this?" He thought the answer should be obvious. "Is this another one of your tests?" He did not feel like it right now. "I will ask after I beat you. Activate Level Limit Area B!" The permanent spell would push all highlevel monsters into defense mode. "I also summon Healing Wave Generator." Due to the Limit installed, the Generator(800/1600) was already switched to defense. "I set a trap card, and end."

"Tsk. You do not learn, not from what has happened or what will happen." The psychic shook his head. "I am doing this, because I have seen how great the future will be." He drew another card. "How can you fight against me, when I know what will happen? What you will do, is no secret." He had just the spell in his hand to counter Colins. "Psychokinesis! I cause 1000 damage to myself, to destroy one card on the field." He stretched out his hand and literally crushed the Level Limit Area with kinetic force. "Oh damn it." Next he summoned another Psychic, a snail (1900/1200). "Even shell creatures are mental now?" Cleo thought Marcus was going overboard on the theme. "Psychic Snail's effect. I can pay 800 lifepoints, to let another Psychic attack twice from now on." The eye stalks of the Snail shot out energy that zapped the Android. She in turn fired two psychic blasts from her staff, to destroy the Generator and hit Colin directly. "Your future lies in defeat, diviner." During his endphase, he regained 600 LP twice.

Colins LP: 4600 Prospero's LP: 6700

"If you can see everything coming, do you also see those fun parts where I hurt you?" Colin asked pre-emptively. "Trap card: Powerful Rebirth. It revives one monster, and strengthens it by 100 atk, while adding 1 star to its total level." He revived a now level five Herald of Creation (1900/600). "I use Herald's effect, discarding one monster from my hand to reclaim another of the seventh level from the grave." He discarded a lowlevel insect to take Greed Quasar back. "The card I discarded was this one, Level Eater!" He took the insect out of the cemetery slot. "It can be special summoned by reducing the level of a level five or higher monster." The one-starred Ladybug flew through the prophet, eating one of its stars and gaining physical form (600/0). "Then I sacrifice both Eater and Herald for Greed Quasar!" The cosmic fiend(2100/2100), his favorite monster, was summoned at last. "Devour the Snail!" The demon stretched its claws out and swallowed the level four Psychic, gaining its stars and growing in strength (3300/3300).

Prospero's LP: 6500

_Powerful Rebirth, Continuous Trap  
__Select 1 monster from your graveyard and special summon it. The monster gains 100 ATK and DEF and 1 Level.  
__When this card is removed from the field, destroy the monster. When the monster is removed from the field, destroy this card.  
__During each of your standby phases, the controller of this card receives 1000 points of damage._

Prospero almost looked surprised. "Bet you expected me to simply summon Quasar with my trap, didnt you? But I do not like to lose 1000 LP every turn.." Yet Prospero's expression faded away. "Actually, I just like to put on a performance. I knew you'd summon it the hard way." He yawned. "Oh yeah?" He played a spell, Star Seizure. "I can discard two cards from your hand at random, because there are more then fourteen level stars on the field!" Since he picked randomly he was sure he'd do something unpredictable. "It wont work." Yet he picked two cards which the opponent did not miss, because he knew they'd be selected. "Nothing you can do will affect the future. It is as solid as history. Only another Millenium Item can fool my Tauk, and you are not special enough for that kind of power." Colin could do nothing more. Then in Prospero's turn, he summoned the tuner Krebons(1200/400), switched the Android to defense mode and placed one trap card face-down. During his endphase he gained another 1200 LP.

Prospero's LP: 7700

"Maybe we should start running." Cleo said to Elias. "What, you do not have faith in me?" Colin snapped at her for once. "It's not that, but if this guy knows the future, he would not challenge you if he saw you beat him." She responded, which did make sense. "Gaaah! I know. But I can not give him Critias just like that, no matter how nice his stories are." He looked at the Tauk around Prospero's neck. "If only there was.." And then the Puzzle around Elias's neck. "Wait.." The student caught him eyeing the Puzzle. "What is it?" Colin got a misschievous grin. "Elias, which card should I use?" He showed the kid a spell and a monster. "What?" Prospero was stunned. "Ehr the monster?" Colin's smile grew wider. "Thanks. You see, I would have used the spell. But he saw me do that. Yet since you own a Puzzle, he could not see if you'd interfere. Lydia used this trick on you as well." He turned to the 'fortune-teller', who said nothing. "How can we trust your vision, when it is so easy to subvert eh? Sorry Prospero, I will not accept your future.."

...

Madlyns LP: 4700 Christine's LP: 1700

"I wonder what happened." Madlyn said, as the golden light from the hangar disappeared. "Did someone won already?" However when she looked back to the field, she noticed Christine was back in the game. "Do not turn away from me." She summoned two monsters to her field, the direct attacker Spell Striker(600/200) and the Union monster Armor Breaker(800/800). The former was special summoned by removing a spell, Kajudoken, from her cemetery. "So you want to continue, even if you can not win." Ivy Shackles turned both into plant-types. Black Garden was also still on the field, so their attackpoints were halved and Halliday gained two Garden tokens (800/800). "I said, I can not let you have it." Rose finally figured out what she was after. "Marcus can not have it!" The Breaker equipped itself to Spell Striker (300/200). It was a combo she often used. "I will not." However this time she added a second equipment, Assault Armor. "By sending Assault Armor to the grave, Spell Striker can attack twice this turn!" Which it did.

Madlyns LP: 4100

The flower girl was hit by magic blasts. "Ho-hum." But she barely felt such weak attacks, allthough she enjoyed it more than the pain of bullets. "That is not all, and you know it! Armor Breaker destroys cards on the field, each time the monster it is equipped to does damage!" She had damaged her twice, two cards were selected. "I destroy Black Rose Dragon and Gigaplant!" The Synchro and the Venus flytrap were broken to pieces. "End turn!" She was still tired from the last turn. "Excellent!" And Madlyn's excitement only grew. "You want to fight until the end, I do too!" She activated her trap card, Bamboo Scrap. It sacrificed one of the Garden tokens on Halliday's field to make two Bamboo tokens (800/500) for Rose. "But you have suffered too much, you can not resist me." At the start of the battle phase, Rose Tentacles gained extra attacks for each opposing plant. "Now, three plants are on your field. Four arms raised, here I come." The five tentacles shot out. "Ggh." Rose grit her teeth, as the Bamboo scraps were crushed easily

Christine's LP: 1100

She lost 300 LP for each killed plant. "And now your combo." Two tentacles constricted her direct attacker. "When Spell Striker is attacked, I take no battle damage." However _they _could still be destroyed. As the equipped one, Armor Breaker died first. But the second attack also took down Spell Striker, costing Rose another 300 LP. "That's the end of that." However she flipped her trap. "No it is not. Mirage Ruler!" Within the same breath, her two monsters returned to the field. "This trap restores all I lost during this battle: Life and Monsters." Spell Striker(200/600) and Armor Breaker(800/800) were merely put back, so they avoided the Black Gardens thorns. "I have to pay 1000 LP afterwards." Which put her life at less than it was before. "You can survive a lot.." She proceeded to main phase 2 and summoned a tomato monster, Inmato.. "Yet if you try to use Spell Striker against me again, Inmato will negate the effect." Its attack was halved (700/800) and Christine gained a new Rose seedling (800/800). She then ended her turn.

Christine's LP: 700

"At last." She normal summoned Amanda Cassity, a strong female warrior. Of course Black Garden halved her strength(950/1800) and gave Halliday a token(800/800), but she would not let that stop her. "I equip Armor Breaker back to Spell Striker." She entered the battle phase. "But first, I will kill Inmato!" Cassity slashed the Tomato. "You forget what Forest we are in!" Spiritual Forest however kept the Inmato alive. "Then my Garden token will kill it!" The red flower monster was weak, but still stronger enough to kill the Tomato. "And with it gone, nothing can negate the effect of Armor Breaker." Spell Striker fired another magic blast, while Armor Breaker used its effect to destroy Rose Tentacles once and for all. "Slowly I understand why you were chosen." Madlyn smiled, but Rose frowned. "I did not get why I was chosen at that time. I do know it will not choose someone like you. Why you are so willing to work for Marcus, that is clear. But do not expect actual forces of good to accept your actions. This is not just a game!"

Madlyns LP: 3150

_Amanda Cassity, 4/1900/1800 Light/Spellcaster  
__You can tribute this face-up card to special summon 1 'Amanda Baker' from your hand or deck._

"What the hell?" Before Halliday could reply, someone else did. "You're still at it? I thought we told you not to play with your opponents." It was Lydia, having stormed over from the hangar. "Lydia?" The two duelists did not expect to see her, alone at least. "Where is Ceasar?" She asked calmly. "Never mind him. Or what happened with our duel." She turned her glare to Christine. "What we need is hers right now, but here she is, still standing." Christine got a bit mad as well, despite her exhausted state. "What have you done with Nero and Jackson!" She yelled at her. "Feh, you will see them soon enough. Madlyn, I suggest you stop toying around and wrap this game up." The girl sighed. "If I have too." Her fun had to end eventually. "I am sorry flowery Rose, you never could defeat me.." She snapped her fingers, and Black Garden started to crumble down. The controller of Black Garden could decide to destroy the Garden to kill all existing plants, including monsters turned into Plants by Ivy Shackles. "No.." Cassity and Spell Striker were gone.

Armor Breaker could not prevent death by card effects. "I had something nice planned for your final chapter, but an anticlimax will have to do.." There was no monster buried in the ground that matched the combined attackpoints of the dead plants, so nothing could be revived by Black Garden. However, she did have something else in her hand. "I summon Gigantic Cephalotus" A hideous carnivorous plant was called out (1850/700). "Do you still want to continue?" She asked the now trembling duelist. "I will not.. give in to you." She said, knowing full well her loss was certain. "Very well. If it is any consolation, you lasted a lot longer than your boy-friend." The Lotus monster opened its maws. "My.. what?" She would not get an answer, the creature's tongue slammed her to the ground. She was knocked out from the hit, as he LP dropped to zero. "Finally." An impatient Lydia grumbled. "Well we won it fair and square." She walked over to the unconscious girl, searched through her coat and found what she wanted: Hermos. "One dragon down.."

Christine's LP: 0

(To be Contined in New Testament 043: Foresight's 20/20)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Level Eater

-  
_Powerful Rebirth (+)_

_(+ Based on the trap used by Jack Atlus in Yugioh 5Ds)_

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Mind Master  
Telekinetic Shocker  
Psychic Snail

-  
Psychokinesis

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Amanda Cassity_

-  
Assault Armor

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Inmato  
Gigantic Cephalotus

-  
Bamboo Scrap


	43. Foresight's 2020

**New Testament 043: ****Foresight's 20/20**

Colins LP: 4600 Prospero's LP: 7700

"You reject my future? Even though it is the only one that will end well for us?" Prospero was still shocked that Colin had done something the Tauk had not shown him. Only because Elias was here. "I will reject it every inch of the way, and here is my first step." Elias told him to use the monster, so he did. "I special summon Grinder Golem to your side of the field!!" A giant made of torture tools and metal appeared before the Psychic. "I will not allow you to change anything!" He however activated his trap card, Mind over Matter. "This counter trap will negate any summon by sacrificing one monster on my field!" He seemed to think it over and went with Krebons. "But even if you negate the summon, I will still reap the benefits." Colin smirked as two tokens appeared on his field. Grinder tokens (0/0) were the cost of summoning the Torturer itself, no trap could stop that. "If you had seen the future, you might have known that ruling and not wasted your trap. Heh." Then he sent Greed Quasar (3300/3300) to destroy the Magical Android(2400/1700).

Because he had devoured the level 5 Synchro, it gained 5 her stars and increased its attack by 300 for each level (Greed: 4800/4800). "Just curious, did your Millenium item predict I'd use this?" He showed his spell Trade Off. "I could have used it to discard the Golem, instead of summoning it. I bet Mind Over Matter would have been a bit more helpful in that case." He ended his turn. "You.. you still do not listen. You yourself believe in the power of the Items, why refuse my visions?" Prospero actually sounded insulted. "It's not your fault, if that helps. I just do not like who you work for. The one who made you all try and trick us into giving up the Dragon cards. You say the future will be better if we destroy the three dragons and that barrier. Then what, how will you destroy the portal, how do you stop Archon?"

"I have said enough already." He drew his next card. "You think you can adjust by asking Elias for help, but you merely changed one move. I still know what cards you are going to use. And if you are wondering why I sacrificed Krebons when it could have stopped your demon from getting stronger.." He played the continuous spell card: Teleport. "It was because of this. Once per turn Teleport will summon a Psychic from my hand, when none exist on the field. I have to pay 800 LP each time." He activated it and called out a very large Psychic, a small head in a big hoverpod(2600/1400) "Master Gig. I can pay 1000 lifepoints to destroy as many monsters as there are Psychics on my field." There was only one, but he needed to kill only one monster. "Be gone, Greed demon." Using his mind, Gig crushed Quasar without even touching him. "And now for those tokens." They were in attack-mode, this would hurt. "You are put a pebble in the river of time, Colin. Do not try to get in its way." Gig fired a blast to desintegrate the left Grinder token.

Prospero's LP: 5900 Colins LP: 2000

"Do you prepare that speech for everyone you duel?" He thought the guy was getting too preachy. "How far can you even see into the future, how can you know it wont end up badly? A small detail is enough to change everything. For instance.." He activated Trade In, discarding the Lava Golem in his hand, instead of the Grinder Golem he drew last turn. "Now my hand and field are different from what you saw." He special summoned one of the cards he drew. It was a Gilasaurus(1400/400). "Yours is too." As a pay-off for this extra summon, Prospero could revive Krebons (1200/400) from his graveyard. "I imagine in the vision you saw, I did not get the tributes I needed to summon this." He sacrificed the dinosaur and his remaining token for a level 8 card, a royal looking spellcaster. "Galactic Empress(2900/2450) come to me!" It was basically a retrained version of Cosmo Queen. "Destroy Master Gig!" The Empress unleashed a star-shaped blast that tore a hole through the Psychic Master. "No, no you did not."

Prospero's LP: 5600

_Galactic Empress, 8/2900/2450 Dark/Spellcaster  
__If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, increase this card's level by half of the level of the destroyed monster. (rounded up)  
__When this card would be destroyed by battle or by an opponents card effect, instead decrease the level of this card by 3.  
__If this would reduce the level of this monster below 1, send this card to the graveyard._

"_I hate to admit it, but Colin is right."_ In the vision given to him by the Tauk, he would have won by continuously pressuring Colin with Master Gig. He could only predict the flow of the game for the next two turns. However the revival of Krebons was a lucky break. "I switch my Psychic to defense mode. Then I set a trap card and end my turn." Without it, he could have sustained some major damage this turn. "Is that all huh.." Colin of course knew what the effect of his Psychic tuner was, but he attacked anyway. "The Empress attacks your monster!" Prospero reacted accordingly. "I use his effect to negate your attack, by paying 800 lifepoints!" Krebons erected an invisible barrier and pushed the queen back with sheer willpower. "I will also set a trap card down. I wonder if you can tell me what it is." Prospero had a good idea actually, since this trap was used in his vision. But now it actually mattered. "Don't ease up Sairve. His deck is still filled with annoying cards." Cleo warned him. "I know, I just like that he is the predictable one now."

Prospero's LP: 4800

"I must apologize, Colin." He said as he drew what would have been his last card. "I mocked you earlier, but I did not mean to insult you. I can not tell how a diviner without a treasure like mine works, maybe you are as good as you claim. Maybe not. However, I can not let the vision I saw go to waste. Once this game is over, you will know why." He normal summoned a monster, except it was a level 6 and he did not give a tribute for it. "Armored Axon Kicker(2200/1800): this Psychic can be summoned without tributes when another Psychic is under my control." He had the right sum now. "Synchro summon!"

The level 2 Krebons tuned with the level 6 Axon Kicker. "Not again." Cleo moaned, as the level 8 Thought Ruler Archfiend (2700/2300) was called from the extra deck. "I know what you want to say: The Empress has a higher attack status. But I am not going to attack her.." He flipped his trap. "Battle Teleportation, if I control just one Psychic. It can attack my opponent directly." The Archfiend teleported, and reappeared right in front of Sairve. "Gah!" He was startled, but quick to react with his continuous trap. "Not so fast. I play Minituarize! It reduces a monsters level by one and its attack by one thousand!" A shrinking ray was fired from point-blank range. If the Synchro's attack would be lowered to 1700, Colin could at least live through its attack. "Then I shall counter your millenium worth of points with mine! I can pay a thousand lifepoints to negate a trap or spell that targets my Psychics!" The Mental Archfiend roared and deflected the Miniaturizing effect. "Oh crap." Its attack was unchanged. "I win." And he received a swipe of its claws.

Colins LP: 0 Prospero's LP: 3800

"Damn it." Was all Colin said. He had lost the game, and now the dragon card too. "The card please." Prospero walked up to him, extending his hand. "Tsk." He took it out of his pocket, but hesitated. "What makes you so certain you can use it? Because of your Millenium Item?" He did not think anyone willingly working for Marcus would be liked by Critias. "Then perhaps I can convince you by telling you about my vision." He spoke as he glared at Cleo and Elias behind him. "What?" The former was edging close towards the exit, regretting not having run away earlier. "What I saw, what my Treasure told me." He smiled and closed his eyes. "I wish you could see it too, the glory of it all. I am seeing it again right now: how our side will break through Archons barrier, how I will challenge him to a duel and defeat him with a strategy that he can not break." He opened his eyes again, looking at several cards in his deck. "I know how to shuffle the deck, how to get the card sequence that will destroy that fiend. Because if I do not.."

Suddenly his smile faded. "I have also been shown what would happen if I failed, if the plan of Simmons was for any reason interrupted. The world does not look good, my friends." He eyed Elias specifically. "If Archon is left unchecked, his master will find his way through the gate. More of their kind will be summoned, all of us will fall one by one. Not even the Tauk sees a hopeful future once the Magus Ka arises. The skies will go red, the rivers black, civilization lost. Whatever plans Ka has in store for our world, it will be the end of human kind." He sounded dead serious, even Cleo could believe his story. "Then why.. why go behind our backs if the situation is that grave?" Colin cursed as he tossed the card at Prospero. "Because you'd deny it, even now you are suspicious of my story. You also would never abandon all the souls and your friend William. But I have seen that their sacrifice is necessary for our survival." He caught the card. "I understand your feelings, but I will not let anyone disrupt my future. You can either join me or.."

Suddenly the door opened and several guards stormed onto the rooftop. "Well done Prospero." The voice of Marcus came from behind the troops. "Everything you told me has happened and will happen, you received Critias and Madlyn has claimed Hermos." So their hope that Christine had escaped was gone too. "She and Lydia will meet us at ground zero, to prepare for our final plan." He smirked and turned to the other three. "What is this plan anyway, why do you need the three dragons?" Cleo asked him angrily. "Very well, I shall tell you: It involves what William left behind: Timaeus, the third dragon." Suddenly both remembered where he left it. "That is right, that card was abandoned within the city itself. It waits behind the barrier, and responded even after Carters demise. If we were to invoke both Hermos and Critias at the same time on the outside.. the three will react to each other and force an opening." Prospero walked up next to him. "I will go through that opening to defeat Archon. That is why..." He gave Critias to Marcus.

"Now will you come quietly, or do I have to detain you?" Simmons chuckled, which was just what Cleo needed for her answer. "You can shove your choices back down your throat, I am not going anywhere with you." Colin was inclined to agree with her. "Wait, you do not speak for me." Yet the same was not true for Gaines. "Huh?" They both stared at him. "I.. I want to see if this works." Elias actually approached Marcus as well. "What?!" She was furious, but the oddly silent soldiers intercepted her. "I am sorry, but I do not know either of you that well. I have not even met this 'William' person. But you yourselves told me to trust the Millenium Items." He clenched the Puzzle. "If I believe in the Pharaoh business, I believe what Prospero told us. So this has to happen." He sighed and shook the thing. "If what I am doing is wrong, the Pharaoh must have showed up by now to say otherwise. But he is not coming, is he? He must agree with this too." And he just wanted this to end, to have no reason anymore to be a Pharaohs host. "I am sorry.."

"Drat, nobody is answering." Jackson, Nero and Ceasar had finally forced their way out of the hangar, there was not much left of the door. Unluckily enough, they had lost contact with anyone at the film-studio. Lydia did not answer any calls either. "I found Rose!" And Jackson soon saw their other friend, Christine, unconscious on the grassy hills. "Oh no.." Nero quickly figured out that Madlyn had won and claimed her dragon card. The helicopter was nowhere in sight anymore, an hour had gone by before they broke free. "If Prospero is still that good at predicting his games, Colin is as good as defeated. They will have both the cards.." They knew of the plan too now, as Ceasar told them all too willingly. "This is not that bad news, if Prospero won, he will beat Archon too." He tried to make the best out of it, even if Lydia had abandoned him here. "We just want to return to that place. Things could still get out of hand." Unfortunately Simmons chose a bad location for his private airport, there was no town to see on any horizon. "Curse it all.."

Though that was not comparable with a desolate place like the netherworld of shadows. "Storm Dragon!" Where Williams soul and his new companions kept encountering one demon after the other. "End Dragoon!" Yet thanks to his memories, they could summon monsters the shadows had never seen before. "Trident Dragion!" Venice, Gerard and Andre dueled one monster after the other, gaining more and more lifepoints to add to the next duel. In the end they had managed to gathered enough to feel at ease, and that was when they reached the end of the oily swamps. "We are here.."

Before them stood the dark mountain, like a tower in the midsts of lesser towers. "This is the exit?" William could not even see where it ended. "Yes, beyond this no darkling can walk. But since we are humans from the other world, we are allowed to climb it." Though from the look of things, that would take a while. At least due to the nature of this place, they could summon their spirits to aid them in the ascent. "And what can we expect to find at the top? I assume it will not be unguarded." Gerard shook his head. "Affraid not. We have never seen them, but we have heard about them.. the elemental sentinels. Powerful entities made from Ka and Ba, you could compare them with angels. They wait at the great barrier between the dark world and the light world, judging anyone that is able to climb this area." Since they were all human, they felt good about their chances. "Well let's go. There is no telling what will happen in the human world while we sit around here. Or what some people might do.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 044: Certain Victory)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**_Galactic Empress_

_-  
_Miniaturize

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Master Gig  
Armored Axon Kicker

-  
Teleport

-  
Mind over Matter  
Battle Teleportation


	44. Certain Victory

**New Testament 044: Certain Victory**

"What do you mean, he is coming here?" Cable asked an equally confused commander who put down his communicator. "That's what Marcus said. He claims to have figured a way through that barrier." And since none of their weapons could get through, the army was willing to accept anyone's solution. The soldiers staioned there were all suiting up and readying their equipment. "Why so sudden.. why did he not tell me." Cable however had all kinds of bad feelings about this. None of his friends were answering the phone, not even Jackson. _"Wait. Could Marcus have.."_ He suddenly realized the problem could also be on his end. If Simmons was truly on the move, he might have tempered with his phone just to keep Fraser from intervening. "Incoming!" A soldier shouted as a medical helicopter came into view. "It's him.." He would soon find out what he had been plotting. But the fact that, most of the people he could see in that vehicle were Marcus and his help, did not calm him. It landed in a cleared space and out came the highly suspect group.

"Greetings general, and Fraser." Marcus approached them with a smile. Lydia, Madlyn and Prospero were right behind him, seemingly sharing his good spirit. Elias was also present, which he did not expect to see. "Ehr.. hi." He also did not step out of the chopper. "Simmons.. what did you do? Where are the others?" Cable wanted answers, he would not let Marcus play anymore games now that the army was backing him up. "Relax yourself, Cable. They are fine and well back at HQ. They allowed me to oversee the process personally, while they and Ceasar continue their search for the Millenium Ring. We simply could not wait for them to finish the search.." He smiled in a way that made any lie obvious. "That is not the truth, Simmons." He growled, his hands were shaking. "Does it matter now? I am here, and I have found a way to save us all. Once this is all over, this country will have no choice but to pardon my crimes." He stepped aside and introduced his three apprentices.  
"Commander, take these three to the treshold. They will break that shield for you."

With reluctance, the general allowed the three to pass. Cable did not know what to say anymore. They walked through the encampment, watched by dozens of questioning troops. "Why are they here, what can kids do?" Yet the trio ignored them and stopped a few feet away from the barrier. "Now it is our turn to shine." Lydia smirked. "Do not forget the biggest task is mine." Prospero touched the necklace and kissed it for good luck. "We know. But we get to do this." Madlyn took the card she claimed from Christine and placed it on a dueldisk. "Hermos.." While Lydia summoned the monster Colin had lost. "Critias!" Two dragons, black and red, flew into the skies. "Monsters again!" Some of the men panicked, though others wondered what holograms were supposed to do. "Those cards." And that was just more evidence for Fraser. "Marcus why do they have those cards!?" he asked him, but he got no answer. "Just watch and be amazed." Critias and Hermos seemed to float about randomly, until a light shone from within the city.

"The third dragon?" An abrupt burst of blue light shot out against the barrier. Critias roared and returned fire at the same spot, while Hermos fired a second beam from a different angle. "What are they doing?" The commander demanded answers as well, Simmons was more generous towards him. "It is simple, those dragons have the ability of fusion. They have done it before. I simply took data from the SIM archives and studied the energy patterns to learn how to repeat the phenomenon." Of course, this was possible because SIM had conducted a duel where all three were summoned and fused. "It is working!" The Red and Black spirits dissolved into their own beams, clashing together with the blue power of Timaeus. "As expected." A bright flash nearly blinded everyone looking directly at the fusion. But once the light faded, they could see a hole in the shield where the beams had hit each other, and several smaller tears further away. The dragon spirits disappeared, the card of Timaeus landed in front of Marcus's feet.

"Men, get in line!" Yet before he could shout out any more orders, an entity came from the rift. "The enemy!" A tall man in silver armor, hovering inches above the ground. "Hold your fire!" Archon was here, but he appeared to ignore all the guns trained on him, instead staring straight at the three duelists. He did not seem to notice a startled Elias in the helicopter. "So that's the big evil huh.." Lydia had never seen him up front, so Madlyn had to confirm his identity with a nod. "Who could forget." And Prospero already knew from his vision. "You are here at last." He activated his dueldisk too, shuffling his deck. "Archon! Do you know who I am?" He pointed at the Tauk around his neck. "I am a chosen one, wielder of this Millenium Item. That means you can not reject a challenge from me. And I choose to duel you to save my world!" He spoke with determination. "Chosen one.." The knight finally said a word and glanced at the anxious people around him. "Very well. But we shall not face each other in the company of lesser beings."

He turned around and headed down the street. "Huh.. he took that well" The soldiers finally relaxed their weaponry. "It's not over yet! Spread out, search for survivors. And find the targets!" The commander yelled, and his men stormed the desolate city. "He does not even care about non-duelists." Madlyn sighed. She and the remaining duelists stayed behind. "You better know what you are doing Simmons." Cable still knew a hundred ways this whole plan could go wrong"Do you put faith in the power of the Items, Fraser? Because I do.. everyone from Tum'aga did. Trust me, what this kid has seen will be worth everything."

"This is fine." Prospero stopped on an abandoned square in the middle of the city's shopping district. ".." Archon stopped moving and touched the earth with both feet. "We shall duel here." The psychic lifted his left arm and waited for the enemy. "You sound unlike those before you, wielder of the Tauk." The silver one spawned the disk from his gauntlet, inserting his Valkyrie deck. "No fear...and no anger.." He was ready too, both their lifepoints were set. "I do not have to tell you my secrets. All you need to know is that I am here to send you back to wherever you came from. And I will begin this duel!"

Archons LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000

He looked at his hand, all the cards he needed were there. "I normal summon the Psychic Jumper!" His first Psychic was a trenchcoated man wearing a spiked helmet(100/1500). "I know your strategy, Archon. You overwhelm people with just one spell, your Ride of the Valkyries. But what if I were to disrupt your entire hand before you could even make a move?" He played a spell card, Psi-Impulse. "This spell sacrificed one Psychic, and forces my opponent to return his hand!" He tributed the Jumper, and Archon returned his hand. "Oh?" Afterwards he could draw three cards. "And I am not done yet, because I also know you never draw that spell in the first turn. Ride of the Valkyries discards an entire hand if it is in one's hand during their endphase. Therefor it must only be in your hand right now!" He activated the spell Card Destruction. Both players were forced to replace all cards in their hands. "You play well, chosen one." Indeed one of the three discarded cards was the dreaded spell itself. "But are you not neglecting your own safety?"

Archon had a point, Prospero had left himself wide open. "Heh. I set a card and end my turn." He did not seem to mind at all. "..Draw." Archon summoned his first monster, the Black and White warrior LightandDarknessKnight(1900/1800). "Go." It charged the fortune teller. "I saw that coming too, just need one card to protect myself." He flipped a facedown quickplay spell. "Emergency Teleport, I special summon one LV3 or lower Psychic from my deck!" He called out a scientist with a lightbulb-covered helmet(100/100) in defense mode, who was immediately cut down by the knights Knight. "You killed Doctor Cranium. When he dies I can pay 800 LP to add another Psychic monster to my hand." He added a level 6 Psychic to his hand. However paying that much lifepoints already seemed to cause pain, like it was sapping his stamina.

Prospero's LP: 7200

Archon placed two traps and ended his turn. Already the wheels in Prospero's head were turning. "_Those cards are.. Wodens Judgment and Logi's Flame." _His plan was set. "Draw!" It was about to begin, his one-turn kill. "Spell card: Telekinetic Power Well! I can revive all the level 1 and 2 Psychic in my cemetery!" Due to Card Destruction he had exactly five of those in the grave. "I revive two Lifeforce Harmonizers, one Psychic Jumper, one Mindmaster and Doctor Cranium." The level 1 doctor, the level 2 coatwearer, a level 1 brain tuner(100/200) and two level 2 amorphous blobs (800/400) were resummoned in attack mode. "I have to pay 300 lifepoints for each level." The total was 8, so he payed 2400 lifepoints. "Then I activate Psychic Jumpers effect, by paying 1000 LP I can trade your monster for one of my Psychics." He exchanged the weakest, Cranium, for the Darklight warrior. "You plan to attack me with those weaklings?" Archon inquired, though he did not sound insulted. "No, this is just how the end begins.. for you."

Prospero's LP: 3800

He sounded tired from paying all that lifeforce, but now all was ready. "Try to keep up. First I use Mind Masters effect, paying 800 LP and sacrificing one Psychic to special summon another." Mind Master chose the Jumper and replaced it with a needle-equipped Power Injector (1300/1400). "Then I Synchro Summon a Psychic Lifetrancer!" He tuned Mind Master together with the stolen level 4 monster and one Harmonizer, to form a level 7 Synchro. It was a pale cyborg girl (2400/2000). "Then my Normal summon, I sacrifice the last Harmonizer for Overdrive Teleporter(2100/1200)! This card special summons two level 3 Psychics if I give up 2000 LP!" He payed the hefty cost and the blue-clad Psychic called out two tuners: Psychic Commanders (1400/800). "Second Synchro Summon!" This time he combined the level 6 Teleporter with one of the Commanders, for a level 9 Synchro, a duel-gun wielding Psychic(3000/2500). "Hyper Psychic Blaster!" Then the effect of Power Injector was used. "I pay 600 LP to power up all Psychics on the field!"

(Power Injector: 1800/1400, Psychic Commander: 1900/800, Psychic Lifetrancer: 2900/2000, Hyper Psychic Blaster: 3500/2500)

Prospero's LP: 400

This should have been enough to overkill Archon, except Prospero knew that Logi's Flame would stop attacks from all monsters with less then 2000 attackpoints. "One more Synchro Summon!" He tuned the other Commander with the Injector, to synch them into a second Lifetrancer. "Now I use their effects, by removing two Psychic from my grave, I gain 1400 lifepoints." Both girls used this power to heal their master by 2800 lifepoints. "Now I have enough to end this. My final spell: Psychokinesis!" With this he could destroy one card on Archons field, at the cost of 1000 LP. "I know which one I want to destroy. His left trap is the Judgment of Woden, with it gone nothing will save him." He pointed at the left set card and payed the lifepoints. "You choose that one?" He flipped his trap. "What?" But to the psychic's shock, it was not Wodens Judgment. "You destroyed Logi's Flame, that allows me to special summon one Valkyrie. I special summon Valkyrie Erste(1600/1800)."" He had picked the wrong card! "How."

Prospero's LP: 2200

The vision he had seen did not predict this, what went wrong? "Rrrgh!" He attacked anyway, but Archon flipped his other trap. "Wodens Judgment, your battle phase is over." He shuffled one card in his hand with one card in his deck. "No.." Prospero closed his eyes hoping for help from the Tauk, but all he saw was the one spell Archon would use next. "I can not.." He placed one trap of his own and ended his turn. "Let me do what? Deny you your visions?" He drew a card and immediately activated the spell: Ride of the Valkyries. "This was not what I saw, this can not happen!" Prospero quickly negated it with his own counter trap, Mind Over Matter, destroying one Lifetrancer to block it. "Why not? Because your item told you so.. .chosen one?" Only now did Prospero realize Archon must have known about his power all along. "It did, it showed me which trap to destroy.. you cheated!" The silver knight must have switched the two set cards somehow. "Indeed it showed you something, but it was not the future. It could not have done so.."

He played another spell, Pegasus Wings, which halved his Valkyrie's attackpoints (800/1800)while giving it direct attacking abilities. "Why are you saying that? I can predict everyone's future! Everyone but.." He flinched, someone else was here. "Everyone but us... the chosen ones." He saw a hooded man, holding something golden in his hands. "Is that.. is that." He recognized it from the pictures, it was the Millenium Rod. And item declared missing since the fall of Glyph. "You tricked me." He now understood, why Archon was so calm. "We let you see what you wanted to see, most of which was not false. But the outcome we changed, to lure you here with hope." He activated the effect of Erste; removing one monster from Prospero's grave, Lifetrancer, to imitate its attackpoints. "I.. I was supposed to be the hero of the world." The duelist trembled, the Tauk showed no more images, he was all alone. "In the end that was what doomed you, chosen one, the desires of man." Erste(2400/1800) attacked at last, ending the duel.

Prospero's LP: 0

(To be Continued in New Testament 045: Blinded by the Light)

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Psychic Jumper  
Doctor Cranium  
Lifeforce Harmonizer  
Psychic Lifetrancer  
Overdrive Teleporter  
Hyper Psychic Blaster

-  
Psi-Impulse  
Card Destruction  
Emergency Teleport  
Telekinetic Power Well


	45. Blinded by the Light

**Testament 045: Blinded by the Light**

Archons LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 0

Defeated and broken, the great Prospero dropped to his knees. "How.." The Tauk had shown him a future in which he would win, in which Archon was destroyed. "How could it have lied to me." It did not happen, because the enemy too had Millenium Items. But then why did he receive such a vision? "You predicted well, chosen one. The duel did go as planned, you would have won... were it not for our power." Suddenly the Knight took an hourglass from the hooded strangers hands. "We search the power of the seven crafted by the Kings, our creator gave us the tools to find them. With this.." The hourglass was turned around, but no sand flowed. ".. we could share your visions. We saw everything you saw. But you did not see everything we saw, you did not see this.. or the Millenium Rod. Because of this I could avoid defeat simply by switching around two cards. Your Item could not tell you this. However we will ensure the existence of your alternate vision, a darker tomorrow will be the reality of all mankind. "

He reached out and snatched the golden necklace away. "This belongs to us now." Yet as he took it, a loud noise rang through the air. Archons head seemed to be knocked back by an unseen force. "What?" Prospero recoiled in shock as well, though not from any attack. "Target has been hit!" He could hear someone shout in the distance. _"They followed me?"_ It turned out that the commander had sent backups to oversee the duel and intervene when necessary. Since he had lost, a sniper team was ordered to take the enemy out. "...Why is he not going down?" Yet the knight stood perfectly still, even thougha rifle just punched a bullet through the slits in his helmet. "That is not possible." His head twisted back into a normal position, Archon seemed no worse for the wear. "Obstacles shall be removed." He started glowing. "..fire again!" The sniper tried to reload his rifle, but he was not quick enough. "Be gone!" A rune was formed underneath his feet, which spread out across the city square. "Nooo!"

The lightshow was so widespread and impressive that even the people waiting outside could see it. "What is happening?" There was a small hope that this light meant the destruction of the enemy, but Cable had seen it before. "He used his powers again. He warped the people inside away." Though were they had ended up, nobody could tell. "Teleporting, he can do that?" Lydia suddenly felt the urge to back away. "Then who won?" Madlyn asked, even though there could only be one answer. "I can confirm that." The general growled. "Before thet flash, my team called in for a code red. That can only have meant your special duelist failed." Marcus gasped. "You can not be serious, Prospero was beaten?" Even he had put so much faith on the premonitions of the Millenium Tauk, he had risked his position for this one move. "Who knows what happened to my men, how are you going to explain this Simmons?!" The commander turned to him, but Marcus had already run towards the helicopter. "Madlyn, Lydia, we are retreating!" His two students followed. What, right now? What about Prospero?" Lydia asked, even though she did not seem to concerned about him. "We need to regroup. Think of a new plan. We need to.."

"You shall not leave." There in the opening of the barrier stood the enemy once more. "You!?" His presence froze everyone in their tracks. He stepped into the middle of their encampment, his hooded companion was nowhere in sight. "What did you do to my soldiers?" The general redirected his hatred towards the silver knight, so did most of the troops that had stayed behind. "They were removed from the area." He responded. "They were trespassing." One soldier's eye started twitching and he immediately opened fire. "Wait!" This led to a chain reaction of bullets and explosions, as one after the other unloaded their weapons on the target. Some even used their rocket launchers for good measure. Elias saw all this from the helicopter. _"Please let it work, please let them destroy it." _He closed his eyes and held his breath.

"I said hold fire!" Their leaders voice finally came through all the racket, and they eased up. Archon seemingly had been reduced to a smouldering crater, but Cable and the duelists knew that was wishing for too much. "Weak." And there he was, emerging from the smoke unscathed. "Material forged by man, nothing like that can hurt one of us." He swept his hand through the dust, blowing it away while simultaneously tearing everyone's rifle to shreds. "Gah." Then he slowly floated up into the sky. "I have entertained the notions of your mortals for a while, but now your designs shall all fall." Their weapons ineffective, they again had to depend on the questionable power of the holographic. "You, why don't you stop him! Use that dragon of yours again." One soldier shouted at them. "I'd love to, but they do not respond anymore." The dueldisk did not react to Critias, Hermos or Timaeus. "They must be tired.." The girls could not duel Archon anyway, because... "I do not accept a challenge from someone who is not chosen."

"Now..I shall stop your efforts." He created another rune. "Gah!" This one spread over the area, and literally paralysed everyone present. "St-stop!" This left them helpless. "I choose to destroy you, even if it means abandoning your lifeforce to the next world." He charged energy within his hands. "No wait, I am a holder of the Millenium Key!" Cable yelled. "I will duel you!" He tried to break out of his numbness. "That will not do, you were not chosen by that item. Nor do you carry it with you at this time and place, so there is no need for me to face you." He was about to unleash his power, except there was one more person that desired a match. "Stop!" It came from the medical helicopter. "You do not want them!" Elias barged out of the vehicle, surprising the Knight. "What is the meaning of your anger, host?" He had not spotted the student until just now. "What I mean is.." His hands stopped trembling as his voice deepened. "Have you forgotten who your real prey is, Silver Pillar?" The Eye of the Millenium appeared on his forehead.

"The Pharaoh!" For Lydia, Cable and Marcus this was the first time they witnessed the shift. The army had no idea what was going on. "Your mission here was to eliminate me, was it not?" He took a dueldisk from the chopper, and inserted his cards into it. "Then come at me. You can not deny me any rights, you will have to duel me to win this." The pharaoh held up the puzzle. "I see. You have become attached to these people already." Archon released the energy and the rune that froze everyone. "Any soul is worth saving, especially from the clutches of you and your master." The two approached each other. "That thing has a master?" One of the soldiers gulped. "Give them some room!" Cable said to the troops, and the commander agreed with this request. "But this time it will be between the two of us directly, no more projections for you to hide behind." Raness smirked. "Your memory must still be ailing, Pharaoh. Our last shadowgame had me well in the lead, I feared not your god." He also activated his dueldisk. "Duel!"

Archons LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 8000

"I will let you go first, Silver Pillar. Since we ended on my turn the last time.." That was what he said, of course what he intended was to hold of the Valkyries for one turn. "So be it." He drew six cards, while Raness drew five. "But I am affraid the initiative will be mine, regardless of the turn order..." He summoned a monster, a female knight with flowing dark-blue hair. "Valkyrie Sigrun(1100/1200). During a turn in which no battle took place, she gains a spellcounter." Her shield started glowing. "By removing that counter, my opponent will not be able to step onty my side of the field for his next turn." Sigrun released the counter and erected a barrier around the Silver enemy. "So you want to overwhelm me with that spell." Archon did not reply, he placed two trap cards facedown and ended his turn. "We shall see how well that goes. Since our last encounter I have subconciously been improving this deck, preparing for a rematch." He drew again. In his hands were three Lightsworn and three traps. "This time things will be different."

_Valkyrie Sigrun, 4/1100/1200 Light/Fairy  
__Destroy this card at the end of your battle phase. During a turn in which this card did not attack, you can put 1 spell counter on this card (max. 1).  
__By discarding a spell counter from this card, the opponent can not declare an attack during the next turn._

"Hey boss, this could be our chance to run away." Lydia whispered to Marcus. "I concur." Since they were not stunned, he might as well leave. "You think you can hide from him?" Cable interjected. "You saw the reports. If he wants to, he can just send his projection after you. If he find the headquarters it will be all over for you." And things did not look too good for him already. "Tsk. Then what do you suggest. If the infallible Pharaoh fails, we will have only one more chance with your Millenium Key." Since Archon only dueled 'chosen ones'. "It would help if you told me what you did to my friends. And why I can not reach them over the phone." Marcus looked almost humbled, and he glanced at his two aides. "Oh that. Well only Cleo seems to actually use a phone, she and Colin are back at the studio..against their will naturally." Madlyn was the one to come with an honest reply. "Teacher has a lot of neat technology too. He blocked your signal with a satellite." Fraser did not like what he heard. "Well can you undo that lock, Simmons?"

Back at the duel Raness had finished his first turn. Two cards were set in his spell/trap zone, one monster placed facedown. "Draw." But when Archon added a card to his hand, one of those traps was triggered. "Penalty Game!" Rather than the actual penalty of a shadowgame, this was the trap version. "You have four cards in your hand, now I can either skip your next draw phase, or.." He knew exactly what spell he had just drawn. "Stop you from using spells alltogether!" He used the second effect, the trap would stop Archon from playing spells this turn. "Of course there is nothing to prevent you from setting that card." He said with another smile. "..." But while that was true, why would he remind Archon? "I use the effect of Sigrun once more." The dark-haired Valkyrie sent out another spellcounter from her shield to reinforce the barrier around her master. "Then in my endphase, Ride of the Valkyries's effect is activated and the rest of my hand will be exchanged with the top four cards on my deck." He chose not to set the card.

"You fear I have ways of destroying that card? Or were you worried my other trap would save me from a one-turn kill and thus leave your field and hand empty afterwards?" Raness seemed to be enjoying this. "Are we playing mindgames, Pharaoh? All you need to know is that I did not consider it a viable tactic." He passed the turn to the other. "If your master fears me that much, I can imagine a reason why you are already defending yourself." He flipped his monster card, the Lightsworn Beast Ryko (200/100). "But that one wont save you for long." When flipped, Ryko discarded 3 cards from the deck, including one Lightsworn Lumina and destroyed one card on the field. He had selected Sigrun. "But even in death her powers remain for this turn." No Lightsworn could attack him directly yet. "Then I will summon the Lightsworn Warrior - Garoth (1850/1300) to my field and end my turn." Besides the wolf beast came a muscular armored axe wielder. However he did not discard any cards, unless another Lightsworn forced theirs.

"As well, you speak beyond what you know. Our Creator has no fears, even you can not stand against him once he comes to this world." He drew a card. "I defeated the Magus and his creations once before." The pharaoh said coolly. "So you say. However, does your memory say how this transpired? Do you know how to repeat that miracle? If you do not, you will not even beat me.." He activated a spell card. "Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen: Once per turn, when no monsters exist on my field, I can special summon one angel from my hand." The conditions were right. "If I can not call my angelic Valkyries all at once, I shall do it one at a time: Valkyrie Zweite!" He tried to summon the pinkhaired slayer, yet the other opposing trap also came in handy here. "I counter that light with mine: Vanquishing Light" Ryko was destroyed and his essence converted into a radiant beam. "I sacrifice one Lightsworn to negate that special summon!" The radiance burst through Zweite and killed her. "It appears I already repeated myself, Archon."

Archon seemed displeased now. His hand mostly had highlevel Valkyries that could not be summoned the normal way. Valhalla only worked once per turn too. "I set a trap card and end my turn." Now the grin on the Pharaoh's face grew really wide. "Well well, a wide opening. I wonder if you will use either of your traps for what will come next." He summoned the Paladin of the Lightsworns, Jain (1800/1200) and skipped straight to the battle phase. "Charge, with the grace of the Gods!" Jain and Garoth raised their weapons, slashing the silver pillar with Axes and Swords. "He hit?" Miraculously both attacks landed, as Archon used none of his face-downs to save him. "Last time we started our duel, you were untouched and well in the lead. Now the roles have been reversed." This time Raness had drawn first blood, so to speak. In fact the attacks seemed heavy enough to dent his armor plating. "Pharaoh.." Even his helmet was cracked. "You truly are a dangeroes foe. Let us then.. make this a true shadowgame. Just like the ancient times."

Archons LP: 4350

(To be Continued in New Testament 046: Among the Slain)

**New Cards used by Pharaoh Raness  
**Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior

-  
Penalty Game  
Vanquishing Light

**New Cards used by Archon  
**_Valkyrie Sigrun_

-  
Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen


	46. Among the Slain

**Testament 046: Among the Slain**

Back at the airport, Nero was looking around to see if he could find anything they could use to get out of this abandoned area. Ceasar and Jackson watched over Christine, who still showed no signs of awakening. "Perhaps letting her meet Madlyn after nearly dying against Archon was a bad idea." Ceasar sighed, though not even he knew just how frantic that girl could get. "..." Jackson did not comment on it. Instead he just stared at the cards in his deck. "You really do not recognize them?" The apprentice could guess why; the new Hermit card. "These must have been made by your friend, I am pretty sure Marcus never devoted time to the Persona series." He said. And Doe's many personalities also reasoned this. "Yomotsu Shikome.. she seems to be the only card added to us." Yet this new Personality did not react like the other 21 fragments, it was as dead as the part they lost. "Oh?" Just then Ceasars phone went off. "Lydia? She is calling for me?" He picked up, excitedly. Only to shift to a disappointed look. "I think it is for you."

On the other end was Cable. Since his phone had been locked, and Marcus could not restore the signal from here, Madlyn had given him hers to call with. "Jackson, are you allright?" He inquired quickly, though Doe returned him the same question. At least he got to hear that everyone was fine, just stuck there. "I will send some help, as soon as we're in the clear." And when he was asked to shed some light on that subject, he only needed to send him a photo of their surroundings to get the message across. "What the hell happened?" Jackson was shocked to see all that in one image; an opened barrier a dueling Archon, a downsized army. He did not even feel like bringing up his own personal confusion right now. "Look Jackson. There is a chance that we might not make it out of here, in that case. You have to know what to do.." However, as of right now it seemed the duel might end up as good news. Raness had taken the lead, but Archon seemed to be taking this as a sign to amp up the sense of dread that surrounded him.

Archons LP: 4350 Raness's LPL: 8000

"A shadowgame, silver pillar? What did you have in mind?" Raness knew what those were; a game for people that liked to put souls on the line. "Nothing grand, Pharaoh. Just this.." A pale and cold mist started to float over the field, it was so thick it blocked the sight and hearing of the soldiers, but not the duelists. "As the master of the puzzle, illusions will be pointless. I will instead base it on your deck's ability." During the endphase, Jain would discard two cards from the deck. "What?" Suddenly two soldiers collapsed to the ground. "In your deck 34 cards remain, on this field are about 40 people. So each card sent to your cemetery will result in the collapse of one of these humans you want to protect." Raness gasped, but the others had no idea what was going on. "Why are you targeting them!" He cursed. "Because, hurting them will hurt you. But rest assured, their souls will be restored once the shadowgame ends." Of course he did not say he would still kill everyone afterwards. "You do this, just to punish the Lightsworn."

"I can't hold back.." Garoths reacted with his own effect, discarding two more cards. "If any of those are Lightsworn I can draw one card for each." One card discarded was the Druid Aurkus, so he drew once. "Two more sacrifices.." More random soldiers collapsed in the background, by now panic set in. "Do not worry, they will not leave." Yet by now the fig had gotten so thick that they could not find a way out of it, as if they were in an entirely new world. "You can not link their fates to mine." Raness was finally done. "..I think I did." Archon thus could re-use the effect of his continuous spell card. "From Valhalla comes Hrist!" His next Valkyrie was black-haired and dark-armored (2000/2000). "Since you seem anxious to end this, I shall show rather than tell." Hrist charged forth and stabbed the Lightsworn Paladin(1800/1200), causing minor pains to the Pharaoh. "You had to run out of traps some time." But Jain did not die, instead he turned around and smiled wickedly. "What?" The paladin(2100/1200) cut down Garoth(1850/1300).

_Valkyrie Hrist, 5/2000/2000 Light/Fairy  
__When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, you can special summon that monster to your side of the field in face-up attack position.  
__The effects of the special summoned monsters are negated._

Raness's LP: 7550

"The victims Hrist become mine to control." Archon clarified his cards effect, Garoth walked back to his field. "Though they are but shells, they can still attack you." In the background another soldier collapsed. "Grrr." Raness could not stop this mad game. "Now, I did not normal summon yet: I sacrifice Hrist and Garoth." He called out a Valkyrie of the eight level. "Lenneth." It was not Brunhilde, but a silverhaired warrior in blue armor(2600/2400). "At the end of my turn, she revives the monsters sacrificed for her creation." Lenneth swept her sword around the field, and the stolen Lightsworn returned alongside the blackhaired Hrist. "You should be pleased, I kept one of your cards alive." Raness was anything but pleased. "I will stop this right now!" He drew crudely, his body fueled by anger. "Ryko, Jain, Aurkus, Lumina. Four Lightsworn are in my grave, so I special summon Judgment Dragon!" He intended to call out his trump card, but it was stopped. "Solemn Judgment!" Archon payed half his LP to counter the Dragons arrival "!"

_Valkyrie Lenneth, 7/2600/2400 Light/Fairy  
__During the endphase of a turn you tribute summon this card, you can special summon the monsters tributed to summon it from the graveyard.  
The special summoned monsters can not attack directly. If this card is removed from the field, remove the special summoned monster cards from play._

Archons LP: 2175

"You tried that before, Pharaoh." Judgment Dragon did not hit the field, all Raness had done was send more souls to the grave. "Ggh. I summon Ehren the Monk." A dark female fighter(1600/1000) appeared on his field, as his sole defender. "Then I set a trap card and end my turn." Now he had to discard three cards for Ehren. Even though he could have set her instead. "I shall sacrifice your Lightsworn for Valkyrie Erste." He sent Garoth and another soldier to his death, to summon the blue-haired angel(1600/1800). She used her effect to remove Judgment Dragon from play and copy its attackpoints (3000/1800). "First stikes Hrist!" Of course he sent his monster stealing Valkyrie in to kill the Monk, but Raness was ready. "Honest!" He played the attackboosting fairy from his hand. "By discarding this, Ehren gains attack equal to her enemy!" She powered up by 2000 points(3600/1000). "So that was why you chose to show me her face. Yet you are naive, Pharaoh!" Yet as the two clashed, he discarded a card from his hand as well. "Honest!" He too used the attackboosting angel, so Hrist gained her current attackpoints (5600/1000). Thus she was overpowered after all. "You should have waited until the damage step, or did you not know the rules?"

Raness's LP: 5550

And Hrist also claimed her, Ehren showed up on Archons side. "Oh no." If she, Lenneth and Erste attacked all at once, he would lose. "Let us give you a taste of your own weakness. Attack your former master, Ehren." The monk jumped up and punched Raness in the face. "Gah!" He reeled from the blow, but was quick to flip his trap. "Flashbang! When I receive damage from a direct attack, I can proceed to the endphase of that turn!" Suddenly the silver pillar lost control. "My turn!" Yet he still pointed his finger. "But you still sent one card to the cemetery." Another man was about to fall. "Curse your shadowgame, Archon! These people are not yours to do with as you please." But his words were not heard. "Someone close follows." Instead he looked at Cable. "Urk." Who suddenly felt very weak. "No!"

Raness's LP: 3950

"...Huh?" But to everyons's surprise, he did not collapse. "This.." Especially the armored villain was stunned at this twist. "How did he resist.." No mortal could or should survive his shadowgame. "Are you alright?" Lydia asked nervously, and he nodded. He was still in pain, but alive. "It seems not every one is equal." Raness smirked. "Feh, the Key must have stayed with him for too long. It matters not, I shall slay him with my own hands instead." Not if the duelist had anything to say about it. "It's my move.." In his hand was just the spell he needed. "Light of Redemption! By paying 800 Lifepoints I can add one removed Light-type monster to my hand!" Only one monster fulfilled those terms. "You.." He payed the cost and added Judgment Dragon back to his hand. "Let's try this again!" He special summoned the Judgment Dragon(3000/2500), Archon was out of counters. "As I said: it ends!" He wasted no seconds, and payed a thousand life points for the Dragons field destruction effect. "It will not!" The enemy yelled as he was swallowed by the explosion.

Raness's LP: 2150

All Valkyries seemingly died, and Valhalla broke down. Though the subsiding smoke revealed three nasty secrets: two were the traps Archon had set many turns ago. "Waboku!" One they recognized, he activated this before it was destroyed. "Now we can not give him battle damage and win.." The other was new. "Fafnirs Treasure." Archon called it, his voice having lost some of its depth. "I can remove all Valkyries on the field, and draw one card for each unique Valkyrie." This too was used before the Judgment Dragon struck, he sacrificed Erste, Lenneth and Hrist to draw three cards. "Wait." But the biggest mystery was unveiled when the blast had caused the silver helmet enough damage to crack it wide open. "He is a human?" Behind was the face of a young man, a familiar man. Only Cable could tell who he really was, or rather, what he used to be. "That is.. Anima!" Marcus soon realized it as well, Archon looked exactly like the man who had dueled him last year. And Jackson, who was still listening in on the phone, was speechless

_Treasure of the Dragon Fafnir, Normal Trap  
__Remove all face-up 'Valkyrie' monster cards on your side of the field, and draw 1 card for each card with a different name that is removed from play._

Everyone else was simply shocked by his mortal appearance, they had expected a monster under that armor. Though some would certainly have tried to shoot him if they could see where he was. "Anima, why are you.." Yet Archon had an unmoving expression. "Anima?" Even his tone remained as cold as that of 'the Silver Pillar'. "I do not know that name." He sounded nothing like him. "Anima?" Raness himself had few memories of him, allthough he did know he had helped the others when he was still half-awake inside the Puzzle. "Isn't that the guy who supposedly drowned while fighting that demon in the ocean?" Lydia asked Simmons. "You know the one you unleashed?" She added 'tactfully'. "Let's say the body was never found." Marcus said. "I do not think this is the same one. "Then you do not know where you got that body from, Silver Pillar? Because it appears to look a lot like their former friend." Raness asked 'Anima'. "How we are born, reborn, die; you humans do not need to know that. The Creators secrets are His alone."

"It does explain why your choice in spirits changed. Our time predates the myth of the Valkyries." The Pharaoh ended his turn at last, after he placed one monster in face-down defense mode. "If I were you I'd pay attention to your allies, Pharaoh." Judgment Dragon discarded 4 cards from the deck, so three more random soldiers fell to the ground. Even the commander passed out. "So few remain." He added a card to his treasure-filled hand. "Spell card, Swan Maiden!" Suddenly a horse walked into the field with a Valkyrie on top. "I can special summon one Valkyrie from my hand." And it was his most bothersome, Brunhilde. The presence of Judgment Dragon empowered her by 300 points. (2100/2000). "Next I normal summon Fortune Chariot!" Winged horses appeared, dragging a carriage. "A Union monster, when united she gives a Valkyrie the power of direct attack." Brunhilde stepped into the chariot, and flew over the foggy field. "Argh, just like Pegasus." She slashed Raness with her sword, but her damage was at least halved.

Raness's LP: 1100

_Swan Maiden, Normal Spell  
__Special summon one 'Valkyrie' monster from your hand to the field_

_Fortune Chariot, 4/0/0 Light/Fairy  
__Once per turn, during your main phase, you can equip this monster to a 'Valkyrie' monster as an equip card, or unequip the union equipment and special summon this card.  
__The monster equipped with this card can attack your opponent's life points directly and the battle damage it inflicts to your opponent is halved.  
__(1 monster can only be equipped with 1 union monster at a time. If the equipped monster is destroyed by battle, destroy this card instead.) _

"Are you trying to wittle me down with that card, while I have enough life for another field-destruction?" He asked, but Archon/Anima shook his head. "No. There is one more card in my hand." He played an equip spell... on Judgment Dragon. "Ring of the Nibelungen!" A ring slipped unto the dragons claw. "A monster wearing the ring has its powers sealed, its moves restricted, and can not be sacrificed." In short, there would not be another Judging. "In return, my enemy can draw once more during his drawphase." That sounded good. "However, if he draws even one monster, one must be discarded." That sounded bad. "It is again time to show you." He finished his turn and the ring started to glow. Two cards came from the dueldisk: Lightsworn Celestia and Pot of Avarice. "One monster." He could have used Celestia a lot right now, unfortunately the curse took its hold on her, and sent the Celestial away. "Twelve souls remain." Archon counted the people on the field, minus Cable. "Then I will revive some: Pot of Avarice!"

_Nibelung's Ring, Equip Spell  
__A monster equipped with this card cannot declare an attack, cannot be tributed, and its effect(s) are negated.  
The controller of the equipped monster does not conduct their normal draw during their draw phase, instead drawing 2 cards.  
__If monsters are drawn by this card's effect, 1 of them must be discarded to the graveyard._

"I send five monsters back into my deck, to draw two new cards." He returned the Celestia, Gragonith, Lumina, Honest and an unknown card. "Draw." He drew Lightsworn Lumina and a spell that was of no use to him. "You wish to restore five soldiers lives? I fear it does not work that way." As both players saw, noone was revived. "No souls can be returned while the fog of shadows persists." Raness could see the calmness of his opponent when he said such things, he did not smile like he had expected him to. Yet his eyes were filled with hatred, much like the Pharaoh's were. "Damn you." He could not forgive his kind, even if they were resembled humans. He placed a monster down and ended his turn. "I started this shadowgame, Pharaoh. I make the rules. In the end all souls are the same." Archon/Anima drew his next card, and placed the monster facedown. "Even yours.." He launched another attack with the Chariot riding Brunhilde. "Rrgh!" This attack brought him an inch away from zero lifepoints.

Raness's LP: 50

"Death comes for all of you, Pharaoh Raness. But my creator transcends it.. you can not kill us, you can not even hurt us."

(To be Continued in New Testament 047: In His Name)

**New Cards used by Pharaoh Raness  
**Ehren, the Lightsworn Monk

-  
Light of Redemption  
Pot of Avarice

-  
Flashbang

**New Cards used by Archon  
**_Valkyrie Hrist  
__Valkyrie Lenneth  
_Honest  
_Fortune Chariot(+)_

_-  
__Swan Maiden(+)  
__Nibelung's Ring(+)_

_-  
_Solemn Judgment  
Waboku  
_Fafnirs Treasure  
__(+) Based on the cards used by Ziegfried in YGO KC Grand Prixfe_


	47. In His Name

**New Testament 047: In His Name**

Archons LP: 2175 Raness's LP: 50

The Pharaoh had to draw twice because of the cursed Ring his Judgment Dragon wore. "Two monsters: Lightsworn Gragonith and Wulf." Every time he drew a monster, he had to discard at least one. "I discard Wulf." But he could keep the other. "I have been sleeping for a long time, Archon. I am not about to let you send me back so quickly." He flipped one of his face-down monsters. "Lightsworn Rogue, Rinyan." It was a cute white kitten (100/100). "When flip summoned, I can draw one card and send 1 Lightsworn back to my deck at the same time." He drew and returned Ryko to his deck. "_This trap.." _Of course this left a weak monster exposed, he had to remove it. "Then I sacrifice Rinyan for Gragonith, the Dragon!" The horse-like lightsworn dragon(2000/1600) appeared, gaining 300 attackpoints for each unique Lightsworn in the cemetery. There were seven for it(4100/1600) to use. "Attack Brunhilde!" His monster sent a holy flame to the Valkyrie who gained more strength(2400/2000) due to Gragoniths presence.

Archons LP: 475

However at last instant she dodged the attack by leaping out of the Fortune Chariot, the Union monster had to die in her place. "At least I damaged you, now we are both at deaths door." He ended his battle phase. "I already told you, I can not die.. Pharaoh." Archon had endured the fire as well. "But you can be stopped.. first I set a trap card. Then I flip my second monster!" He revealed Lumina, the Lightsworn summoner(1000/1000). "I discard one card to revive one monster." He discarded the useless spell, and brought back Garoth the axe wielding Lightsworn (1850/1300). "During my endphase, Lumina and Gragonith discarded three cards from my deck. Garoth also uses his effect to discard two cards!" The two cards Garoth threw away were Celestia and Lyla, both Lightsworn, so Raness could draw twice. "Even more offerings to your play?" Of course many soldiers lost their souls to the fog. "Fortunately you sent some cards back to your dying deck, but so few remain." His deck had only five cards left now. "My turn."

Yet he had left several monsters in attack mode. ".." He entered his battle phase and Brunhilde(2700/2000) raced towards Lumina. "Lightsworn Barrier." But the trap was what protected them, it discarded two more cards from his deck to negate the attack against a Lightsworn. "Predictable. But I am not after such a simple victory." Again two soldiers collapsed, it was so very quiet now. "Three remain unused, those will be those three." He glared at Marcus and his cronies. "Ggh, we should have run while we still had the chance Cable." Simmons rasped at his 'friend'. If he could see the helicopter through the fog, he would have left already. "Calm yourself Marcus. If you trusted Prospero, you can put your faith in Raness as well." There was no time for hysterics. "But Archon left Brunhilde exposed as well." Madlyn referred to the fact that Gragonith could easily kill it and take out all his LP. "I prepared for that eventuality: Valkyrie's Embrace!" Suddenly Gragonith exploded in a blaze of light. "What is happening?" And the energy left behind switched sides. "This spell takes control of one monster on your field, equipping it to mine, while switching it to defense." Gragonith's aura became part of Brunhilde(2400/2000). "No dragons can lay a hand on her."

_Valkyrie's Embrace, Normal Spell  
__Switch 1 face-up 'Valkyrie' monster to defense mode, afterwards you can treat 1 face-up monster your opponent controls as an equip card and equip it to the 'Valkyrie' card.  
__If the equipped card would be attacked by an opponents monster with the same type as the equipped card, remove the equip card and the attacking monster from play._

"So you saw what I discarded." Raness drew twice again, he drew a trap and a spell. "No monster card?" Meaning the Ring could take nothing away. "I discard a card for Lumina's effect, and I revive Lightsworn Lyla." He discarded the drawn spell, and from the grave came a female sorceress(1700/200), which Garoth had discarded last turn. "By switching her to defense I can destroy one or trap spell on the field." Archon knew what she could do. Lyla aimed her wand at Judgment Dragon. "Yes, the ring.." She destroyed Nibelungs curse, freeing the Judger. "But you no longer have the lifepoints needed to use his powers, nor can you attack Brunhilde with it, due to Gragonith's essence." And her defense was higher than the attackpoints of his Lightsworn, he did not fear Judgment anymore. "There is only one choice." Garoth had given him two new cards the last endphase. One of which was... "Obelisk!" Everyone gasped, three monsters were sacrificed. "Lyla, Lumina, Judgment Dragon, become tributes for the God of Earth!"

A beam of light shot into the sky, piercing the mist of the shadowgame. "What is that?" A giant blue titan(4000/4000) had taken their place, his mere presence shook the earth beneath their feet. "Obelisk again?" Archon still remained unphased. "Act as calm as you like, Silver Pillar. You can not stop me anymore!" He attacked, Obelisk slammed against Brunhilde(2100/2000). "But even gods must obey reality!" Brunhilde however raised her shield, reducing her defense by a thousand to keep death away (2100/1000). "Tsk." Garoth was still alive, and raised his axe as well. It cut the Valkyrie's shield to pieces (2100/0), but she was still alive. "Not even Obelisk can put an end to this insanity." Lydia cursed. "Set two trap cards. End turn." Archon drew another card. "One more card, your last turn. However I shall not wait.."

"I summon the Princess Alicia." His next card sharply contrasted with the fierce looking Valkyries. Alicia was a young girl in white robes (1900/1800). "Alicia calls upon another Valkyrie when normal summoned." From the deck came the blonde Reginleif(1400/1400). Her effect allowed Archon to add one Light-monster to his hand when the turn ended. "Is he trying to attack Garoth with them?" Cable wondered, but it would get even worse. "Flip Valkyrie Dritt(1300/1300)." Now three Valkyries circled around the Princess. "The hour has come, for you to see my ultimate slayer." They started to light up. "Fusion!" The trio joined with Alicia and become one card. "What?" Before them stood a flying horse, with a fully armored Valkyrie on top(3500/3500). Her hair was a long black curtain with red and blond stripes. "Harvarar. My strongest Valkyrie." Yet she was not Obelisks superior. Nevertheless he entered the battle phase. "I do not have to contend with God." The knight was eying Garoth. "Your Barrier is out of souls to discard, Pharaoh.."

_Princess Alicia, 4/1900/1800 Light/Spellcaster/Union  
__When this card is normal summoned you can special summon a lv.4 Valkyrie-monster from your deck to the field.  
__Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if you control this card on the field, you can equip it to a 'Valkyrie' monster card as an equip card, or unequip the union equipment and special summon this card in face-up attack position. While equipped to a monster by this card's effect, each time it destroys 1 of your opponent's monsters, you can draw 1 card from your deck.  
(1 monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster is destroyed as a result of battle, destroy this card instead.) _

_True Valkyrie Harvarar, 10/3500/3500 Light/Warrior/Fusion  
__3 x Valkyrie monsters + Princess Alicia  
__This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by sending the above cards on your side of the field to the graveyard. (You do not use "Polymerization".)  
__If this card is in your graveyard after being destroyed, you can special summon this card in face-up defense position during the next endphase.  
__When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, negate the effects of the destroyed monster. _

If Harvarar charged Garoth it would be the end for them all, Lightsworn Barrier needed to discard 2 cards to stop an attack. "Goodbye Pharaoh!" The Valkyrie came close. "Trap card: Ray of Hope!" But he flipped one of his other sets. "I can send two Light monsters back to my deck!" He returned Ryko and Celestia. "And then the Barrier." Now he could discard two cards after all, and the Barrier deflected Harvarars glowing blade. "He lived!" And now Obelisk could counterattack, but even so.. "Hmph. It's too late Pharaoh Raness!" During his endphase he took one Light monster from his grave. "Only you and your 'friends' remain. Four cards on the field, one in your hand." Raness drew the last card waiting in his dueldisk, the Ryko he had returned with the Ray. "Even if you can strike my fusion down, and she will be reborn." Obelisk alone could not do enough damage. "It is never too late, nothing is impossible." he summoned the Lightsworn Ryko (200/100). "Not even Infinity." And then Obelisk grabbed both the wolf and the axe warrior with his claws.

"Soul Energy Max."

Archon froze. "That power.." By sacrificing two monsters, Obelisks attack would rise to unlimited heights. "God's reach exceeds yours, Silver Pillar. In the name of Obelisk, I vanquish you!" Obelisk (Infinite/4000) slammed his fists together and sent an energy beam towards Harvarar. "Your view of the world is too narrow, the eternal are not just gods!" He discarded a monster from his hand. "Honest!" To everyons's dismay, this was the card Reginleif had chosen. "If Honest is used, how much attack.." Harvarar gained attack equal to that of Obelisk. But since there was no higher number than infinity, the fusion merely reached the same peak (Infinity/3500) "They are equals!" Harvavar was pierced by the divine beam, at the same time she stabbing the Divine soldier in the eye with her blade. "They will both suffer death." A giant explosion followed, mist and dust blew in every direction. "That was it, Pharaoh! Your last card is gone, all souls will be.." Except when the smoke cleared, a figure could be seen within. "What!" Obelisk stood in front of Archon.

He was not damaged (4000/4000). "How did he.." Obelisk should have died, it was only as strong as Harvarar. "Obelisk was destroyed, yes. But..." Raness pointed to his final trap, Miracle's Wake. It was a card that revived a monster killed during battle. "To answer your earlier claim: Miracles _can_ happen twice." The battle phase had not ended yet, and the enemy was all that stood on that side. "No." The face of Anima showed dread for the first time. "Any last words, Anima, Archon, whoever you are.." The silver pillar grit his teeth. "You.. still do not understand, you can not stop the ressurection of the creator. My defeat means nothing!" The Pharaoh looked at him one last time and closed his eyes. "If it leads to the salvation of a few souls, it will have meant something. I do not trust you to understand." Obelisk wound up a punch. "It is truly, your end. God Hand Crusher!" This time Obelisk unleashed his fury on the real physical Silver knight. He shouted out something, but his words were drowned in the wake of God.

Archons LP: 0

As the enemy was erased from the world, the barrier he had created shattered like glass. The city and the portal site were no longer shielded by his rune magic. The shadow fog faded as well, though the fallen soldiers did not wake up immediately. "Their souls will take some time to recover." He sighed and dismissed the hologram of Obelisk. "Amazing.." Lydia and Madlyn had watched the last turn in awe, and Cable had seen god for the very first time. "Raness, you were.." The pharaoh walked up to them. "I did what I had to.. to prevent Ka from returning, and to save humanity." He had witnessed it before, he did not want to see it happen again. "But is this the end, both flunkies of the Magus are gone now." Lydia wondered what else he could throw at them. "I fear not." As more mist cleared, two things were revealed. "They are still eternals. We can not destroy them permanently." One was a strange silver-tinted lamp, lying in the spot where Archon used to stand. "As long as the portal persists, their Creator will not stop. But I can.." However his words were cut short, as the second party revealed itself. "!" They were surrounded, not by army men, but by a few of the bodyguards that Marcus always hung around with.

"What the.. when did they get here?" Cable realized soon Simmons must have called for them as soon as Prospero failed. "But they could not find us, until the shadowgame ended." Raness was surprised too, he could not even sense the coming. _"Do they even have..souls?"_ Simmons himself stood behind the troops. The two girls soon joined him. "Simmons, what is going on?" Fraser did not like this one bit. "I am trying to cover my mistakes, Cable. I do not want Prospero's failure to be on my head." He turned his smirking face to the Pharaoh. "Spirit, you duel well. I do not suppose wou'd be willing to join my team?" He inquired with a grin. "I was willing to lay dormant due to the supposed premonition of the Millenium Tauk. But I can not approve of your methods anymore... so no." Marcus shrugged. "Suit yourself, you two can stay here with those that wont wake up for a while.." He and his aides stepped into the medical helicopter. "Aren't we going to check out the people in that city?" Madlyn asked her teacher. "I already have everything I need from that place." The chopper took off. And in the background, more helicopters appeared. "What?" Simmons had called for even more assistance. They had gone into the city through the many small holes in the barrier to collect several valuable assets. "Goodbye Fraser. Next time you see me, I will be a hero.." He waved his hand and closed the doors as the vehicle left the scene. "Damn it Simmons."

Throughout all the commotion, nobody saw what was going on with the portal right now. The gate through which Zakarias and Archon had travelled was losing stability, it flickered like a dying light bulb. Nobody on this side noticed, but some on the lower side could see it very clearly. "It is fading away?" Venice, Gerard, Andre and Will looked at the shining beacon in the darkred sky, as it shrunk rapidly. "Something must have happened on the other side. Good news I hope, as the shadows would want that door to stay open." But now there was only one way out of this world of darkness, and they were very close to it.

Over the last few days, at least that's how long the trip felt, they had ascended the spire. It was like a true purgatorial tower, every now and then they could rest at a flat surface much like a terrace. Their spirits, flyers and climbers helped out a lot. However when they reached the sixth level, they could go no further. "This must be it." Above were clouds so thick, they felt like rocks, and yet the tower pierced right through it. A row of pillars was at the center of the platform, leading into a cave. "We have to proceed through there." The foursome approached the black hole in the mountainside, however before they could enter two flashes of light appeared. "Halt!" A blue and a red beam of energy blocked their path, which soon took a more humanoid shape. "I see we have alarmed the door guards." William was ready for the worst.

(To be Continued in New Testament 048: Brothers Through Fire and Ice)

**New Cards used by Pharaoh Raness  
**Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue  
Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress

-  
Ray of Hope  
Miracle's Wake

**New Cards used by Archon  
**_Princess Alicia  
__True Valkyrie Harvarar_

_-  
__Valkyrie's Embrace_


	48. Brothers through Fire and Ice

**New Testament 048: Brothers through Fire and Ice **

At the site of duel between Raness and Archon, the soldiers awoke one by one. They did not know how the enemy was pushed back, but they knew who not to thank for it. "I still do not understand what the hell he is thinking." Cable said to the commander. "We will get to him when the time comes." He growledin response, his mood had not fared well ever since his soul mishap. "The sooner we can put the lid on this place, the better." Right now his men, those that weren't too shaken up, were searching the city for any signs of the other soldiers. They still could not establish any contact with the teams that Archon got to first. At the same time they had called for the science team to return to the portal site, to see if there were any changes there. "Once we are done here, we will dispatch a party to gather your friends at the airport. The rest of us will confront Marcus at the film studio." Even if he had nothing malicious planned, they could not leave him alone after what he had done. Plus they still had to get Colin and Cleo back.

Close by was Raness, looking at the lamp that Archon had left behind. "Raness, you know what this is?" Fraser approached the pharaoh. "This, I might have seen it before..." He responded, sounding a bit confused himself. "We would appreciate if you could tell us what you do know about the people we are delaing with." He asked him. "I fear my memories of my last few days before the end are the most fractured. The Magus Ka, who he is, what he wants. I can not remember.. His creations are called the pillars, they are.. there are more of them...urgh." All this recollecting gave him a headache. "You do not have to force it." Cable picked up the lamp. "We can analyze this, figure out how it relates to Archon and his kind." He just could not use Simmons facilities, at least not until everyone had regrouped. "And then maybe we can find out more about you as well." Since the whole spirit possession was fairly unique. "I do not know how long I can stay awake this time however, as of yet I can not converse with my .. partner."

"Sir. Bad news, sir!" One of the troopers approached the general with a communicator. "Yes?" He took it from him. "I see, we will be right there.." They made their way towards the hospital, the very place where they had last seen the bodies of Carter and the other victims of Turner. "They aren't here?" And what they were warned about turned out to be true. "Did Archon move them, he could have.." But there was another possibility. "Could Marcus have.." His men had entered the city during the duel, and they knew from reports where the bodies were last seen. "But why would he want them?"

They did not know, only Simmons could tell them that. And he was not sharing that information, not even with his own apprentices. "Hey I hear something." The helicopters return to the studio were overheard by Colin and Cleo who had been locked up inside one of the many backstage rooms. The filming crew had been suspended ever since Conroy's attack, nobody was here aside from some very obedient guards. For the last few hours they had been stuck together, blaming each other for them ending up here, but now they could focus on whop was really responsible. "Can you see anything? Can I see?" The locked door had a small peephole, through which Cleo could overlook the entrance to the sublevels. "You will get your turn when I feel like it, now hush!" She saw Marcus head in first, followed by his lackeys. "Huh Prospero is not there, that is either good or bad news." She also did not see Elias. "And maybe the student finally got it through his head that he is playing with the wrong side." Yet they walked straight passed them, as if Simmons had already forgotten all about his two prisoners. "If it were good news, he'd be in the presence of the cops by now." Colin fumed. "Now I see something else." Behind them were the bodyguards, carrying people on stretchers. Are they wounded?" They looked familiar. "Okay enough of that." Colin pushed her aside and took a peek of his own. "Wait a second.." He gasped. "One of those 'wounded'.. is William!"

The blue and red shapes had taken a physical form. They appeared like faceless humans with long tattered cloaks and red and blue armor. "So those are..the sentinels?" The pair stood in front of the cave that would take the four humans out of the netherworld. "Who goes there?" They asked in unison. "We do. Us four souls from the mortal plane." William did the talking for his four friends. ".." The sentinels inspected them all with unseen eyes. "We see. You do possess the ba and the ka that does not belong. And you have proven its great strength by coming here.." They said, still synchronizing their voices. "Then we can leave?" Venice sounded hopeful. Yet their silence did not sound good. "No." And suddenly there they were, two glowing eyes on each of their faces. "Some can not pass. We sense an imbalance in you, an impurity of the spirit." Venice and Andre flinched, they must have feared this. "Is it because.. of that?" Andre clenched his fist. "Brother.." Will realized what the impurity was.. their past as Orichalcos assassins.

"We can not allow them to return to the mortal coil, nor can we grant them passage to your afterlife. The darkness is too strong within." The blue sentinel pointed at the younger Carter. "But you, William, you may pass if that is what you desire." But this brother was about to ignore his family. "Who are you to say this, do you know what they went through!" He shouted at them. "I did not come this far to let whatever you are stop them. I will fight you for it!" He activated the disk on his arm. "It is not you we wish to stop. But if that is your wish.. We know how to wield the power of the duel monsters." However Andre placed his hand on his siblings wrist. "Wait brother, there are two of them. I can not let you do this alone." He put on his dueldisk as well. "Gerard, Venice.. stand back. This will be a tagteam match apparently. There is no need to risk all the lifeforce we have accumulated." The two nodded and stepped back to the edge of the terrace. "These are our terms, if we defeat you, you will have to let us go where we want to go."

The two masked beings materialized disks. "We accept those terms, William Carter." They were ready for the game. "I don't think it will matter, if we defeat them, they will lose form anyway.." Everyone drew their cards. "I still would like to know what they are, do they even have names?" Gerard asked, as they apparently knew their names already, so it would be nice to get information in return. "What you see is but an avatar, our original form matters not. Yet if you need a designation, we have been given names in your language." The two now spoke separately, the red one came first. "Mulcifer." Then blue spoke up. "Fimbulvin." Both siblings nodded. "Very well, it's good to know that. Now.. I shall start." Andre drew his sixth card. "That's fine with me." The younger Carter smiled. "Noted. Mulcifer will follow your lead." That meant Fimbulvin would come after William. "Okay, let's do this." He placed two trap cards facedown and one monster. "And I will not like it if I find out that my inner darkness is just about my choice in cards.."

Team Carters LP: 10000 Team Sentinels LP: 10000

As Andre finished the turn, the red sentinel started his. And before anyone could guess if their colors had anything to do with their deck-style, they were forced to see it in action. "Soul Exchange." Mulcifer activated the tribute stealing spell. "I sacrifice a monster on your field, to tribute summon one for mine." He sacrificed the set card, a Terrorking Archfiend(2000/1500) to tribute summon a fiery armored emperor. "Firestorm Monarch - Thestalos(2400/1000)" The Monarchs were widely known for having devastating effects when tribute summoned. "Thestalos discards a card from the opponents hand when summoned, and that player loses lifeforce for each level on that card." Thestalos literally burned one card in Andre's hand. "Ggh, my Imprisoned Queen Archfiend." A demon of the eight level was destroyed, so he lost 100 * 8 = 800 LP.

Team Carters LP: 9200

"End turn." Mulcifer said calmly. William was less even-tempered. "Draw!" He activated the field spell, Sanctuary in the Sky. A shining temple appeared in the unholy skies above the mountain. "That feels nice." Venice and Gerard enjoyed the warm rays. "And then I place one trap card, and also I summon Zeradias, the Herald of Heaven!" A greenwinged angel warrior flew out of the Sanctuary and landed on the barren dueling field. "This will be a team of light and darkness, brother?" Andre almost chuckled. "Yes, the fiends for my brother, the angels for me." His turn was over, now Fimbulvins element emerged. "Uh oh." Without a second thought he sacrificed the Monarch of his companion, tribute summoning Mobius, the Frost Monarch(2400/1000). "Fire replaced by Ice?" Mobius used it's effect to destroy two spells or traps on the field. "That trap, and that field." One icicle shattered the Sanctum in the skies. "Agh, without the Sanctuary, Zeradias can not exist." The herald cried out as it choked on the dark air around it.

Another ice shard pierced Andre's left set card. "But that helped me a little! I activate both my trap cards!" Andre flipped two card, including the one that was targeted: Archfiends Roar and Nature's Anarchy. "Archfiend Roar, I revive the Terrorking Archfiend that is in my cemetery at the cost of 500 lifepoints." The King of chess demons (200/1500) returned. "Nature's Anarchy, I replace the field we lost with one of mine!" Instead of a shining temple, there came a dark decaying altar. "Pandemonium! Now I do not have to pay lifeforce for my demons. Furthermore when an archfiend is killed by an effect, I get to draw another from my deck with a lower level. Observe!" In Fimbulvins endphase, after he had placed two traps, Archfiends Roar would send the King back to the dead. However. "I can discard a Desrook Archfiend from my hand to revive him once more!" And since technically the level 4 Terror demon was destroyed for a short while, he could use Pandemonium to add the second (level 3) Rook Archfiend to his hand. "This is my combo"

Team Sentinels LP: 8700

_Nature's Anarchy, Quickplay Spell  
__When a field-spell card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can select 1 field spell card from your deck and activate it._

"Impressive." The sentinels turn was truly over now. "Draw." Andre got the first attack. "I use the effect of the Imprisoned Queen in my cemetery. If 'Pandemonium' is the field, she can add 1000 attackpoints to an level 4 fiend under my control." He of course chose the King (3000/1500). However at this time a trap was flipped. "Absolute Prison." Fimbulvin revealed his continuous trap, an ice block that froze Terrorking solid. "What?" It could not move, defend or attack. "You triggered this trap when you altered your monsters strengths. We saw it coming when the Queen was discarded." His next step had hit a wall.

_Absolute Prison, Continuous Trap  
__Select 1 monster your opponent controls that has its attack changed by a card effect. The selected monster cannot declare an attack, be tributed, or be declared as an attack target.  
__If the selected monster is the only monster your opponent controls, you may attack directly. If the ATK of the selected monster returns back to normal, destroy this card._

"I am not done yet!" He placed one monster facedown and activated an equipment spell. "Falling Down." A demons shadow grabbed Mobius by the throat and infected it. "When an Archfiend is at my side, I can steal control of an opponents monster, while losing 800 LP during their turn." Mobius walked over to Andre's side. The two sentinels did not seem to mind this. "Now a direct attack!" Mobius created a blizzard to harm his own master, but the master of ice was not even phased by such a storm. "Well at least you two are in the lead now." Venice sighed, she hoped it would stick. "That ends my turn."

Team Sentinels LP: 7600

Since Falling Down asked a payment every opponents standby phase, the Carter team lost 800 lifepoints. On the other hand, the Imprisoned queen stopped boosting the attack of the King(2000/1500), so he broke out of the ice prison. "..I summon Volcanic Queen." Mulcifer called out a level 6 monster, which was strange as he had nothing to offer. "A king for a queen?" But he tributed a monster on Andre's field, Terrorking was replaced with a serpentine lava demon (2500/1200). "The Volcanic Queen requires lifeforce or a spirit to stay on your field. A more familiar spirit that resembles this effect will be the Lava Golem." A painful monster to wield then. As well, with the death of the sole Archfiend, Falling Down could no longer infect Mobius. Thus the Frost Monarch returned to the side of Fimbulvin. Mulcifer placed a trap as well and ended its turn. "Well they got me good bro. I suppose you have an answer for this?" Andre appeared to rely on his help now, which William liked to hear. "I do.. In my turn summon Chaos-End Master!"

Team Andre's LP: 7900

His next angel had white wings, yet its type was that of the spellcasters. "It attacks Mobius, and from my hand I discard Honest!" William too now used the power of the angelic Honest, adding Mobius's attack to that of the End Master (3900/1000). "When the Chaos Mage kills a monster, he special summons a level 5 or higher monster with less than 1600 attack from the deck." The master of chaos killed the icy emperor. "I choose this one." From his deck he took a card, "Sphere of Chaos." It was a level 5 black metallic orb with golden energy inside, a monster of light and darkness(1600/0). "And there is one more thing. Chaos End Master is a Tuner.. do you know what that is?" Neither Sentinel replied, and it was hard to tell their reactions with their featureless masks. "I will show you then. I tune Chaos End with Chaos Sphere!" He combined their eight levels for a Synchro that required a dark-nontuner monster. "This is my tribute to your Dark End Dragon, brother. I summon the Light End Dragon(2600/2100)!"

Team Sentinels LP: 6100

(To be Continued in New Testament 049: Double-Crossing the Rubicon)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Zeradias, Herald of Heaven  
Chaos End Master  
Honest  
Chaos Sphere  
Light End Dragon

**New Cards used by Andre Carter  
**Terrorking Archfiend  
Imprisoned Queen Archfiend  
Desrook Archfiend

-  
_Nature's Anarchy  
_Pandemonium  
Falling Down

-  
Archfiends Roar

**New Cards used by Sentinel Mulcifer  
**Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch  
Volcanic Queen

-  
Soul Exchange

**New Cards used by Sentinel Fimbulvin  
**Mobius, the Frost Monarch

-  
_Absolute Prison_


	49. Double Crossing the Rubicon

**New Testament 049: Double-Crossing the Rubicon**

Christine was awake again, though the duel with Madlyn had still left her exhausted. And as Cable had promised, a small group of soldiers had come to their rescue. "I thought we'd never get out of here." Ceasar extended his hand to greet the people that came all the way to this remote area. "Hands up!" But they instead pointed their guns at them. "Whoa hey calm down. Did I tell you that I am on their side now?" He raised his hands anyway, just to be sure. "You did not tell me that." Nero scoffed. "It's good to see you." Jackson instead shook the soldiers hand. "Yes, we came as fast as we could. Our commander is waiting for you, they are heading towards the studio site right now." To confront Marcus for the last time they hoped. "But what about the others?" Christine stood up. "Jackson said that you'd defeated Archon. And that he was Anima." Which she also did not understand, but she had bigger concerns. "What about the victims in the city?" Sadly, the soldier could only shake his head. "I am sorry.. we found none."

... In the Underworld

Team Carters LP: 7900 Team Sentinels LP: 6100

"Light End Dragon?" Venice blinked, she had just seen William synchro summon the opposite of Dark End Dragon, an angelic serpent dragon with golden armor. "The Synchros. Yes.. we know of them." The sentinels sounded impressed. "Humanity keep giving new forms to their inner spirits; aliens, machines, psychics, and now they even attempt to imagine a new fusion process." Suddenly Fimbulvin discarded a card from his hand. "Nevertheless us sentinels will adapt. By discarding a card from the hand when the enemy special summons their monster, Dragon Ice can be special summoned from the grave." He discarded Dragon Ice itself, so it was already in the cemetery when the time came for a quick revival. "So I see." The ice elemental had summoned a frosty cybernetic dragon(1800/2200). "So you oversee all creatures of a certain element." Whether they were manmade or true spirits. "I equip Light End Dragon with Silver Wing, and end my turn." The feathers of the Synchro gained a silver glow, though that was the only change.

"We do..." It was Fumbulvins turn, he played a spell card. "And also the magic to dominate it: Ice Mirror." A fountain of frozen water appeared. "It calls out one water monster of the 3rd or lower level. I choose Blizzard Warrior(1400/400)" Out came a knight with an icy armor, even its blades were made from ice. "Two sacrifices." The Warrior and the Dragon disappeared in a single block of ice. It cracked open and revealed a new monster. "Blue Ice White Knight Dragon." It was a dragon(3000/2500) whose body was made from sharp ice. "So much ice." Gerard shivered. "Attack." The creature released a stream of snow. "I activate Light End's effect!" But the dragon countered with a light burst. "When battling, she can surrender 500 attackpoints (2100/1600), to lower the stats of an opponents monster by 1500." The light dispelled most of the snow, and weakened the Enemy Dragon (1500/1000). "Trap!" Yet Fimbulvin had a counter for that counter. "Prideful Roar." He payed 600 lifepoints. "What?" Suddenly White Knight Dragon boosted its attack(2400/1000). "This trap converts lifeforce to strength, until both monsters are equals. Then 300 more strength is added to my spirit." The stream made contact with Light End after all.

_Ice Mirror, Normal Spell  
__Special summon 1 level 3 or lower water monster from your Deck. The monster summoned by this card's effect cannot declare an attack this turn._

Team Carters LP: 7600 Team Sentinels LP: 5500

Andre gasped. "Will!" Yet at the last second she deflected the snow with her silvery wing. "Silver Wing saves a LV8 Synchro monster from physical death, twice per turn!" With the White Night attack averted, Fimbulvin ended its turn. "I am glad you survived that, brother. Now let me complete our team." First he summoned the Desrook Archfiend(1100/1800). "Volcanic Queen(2500/1200) has an effect doesn't she?" He smirked, he would use their own monster against them. "I tribute this Archfiend, to inflict 1000 damage!" The Rook burned in a river of lava. It damaged Mulcifer, but he barely moved an inch. "There is more. I played Between the Dawn and Dusk!" He covered the field in twilight; shadows to his left, light to his right. "Now all monsters become dark and light-elemental." He flipped his facedown monster, it was a gremlink-like spider demon(1000/1300). "Dark Tinker, a level 2 tuner. You can see where I am going with this... Synchro Summon!" He turned the Tinker with the darkened Volcanic Queen. "Dark End Dragon!"

Team Sentinels LP: 4500

_Between the Dusk and Dawn, Continuous Spell  
__Monsters on your side of the field when this card is activated are treated as Dark and Light-attribute monsters  
__When this face-up card on the field is removed from the field, you can special summon 1 Dark or Light monster from your hand._

The black dragon with a mouth for a chest appeared next to its more celestial counterpart (2600/2100). "It too has an power-hungry ability." He reduced its attack by 500, and the Synchro(2100/1600) opened its maws. "It destroys one monster on the field." The Dragon of Blue Ice was the main threat, so he removed that one. "You both are wide open, direct attack!" Dark End unleashed an unholy energy beam. "Trap card." But this time Mulcifer had a trap prepared, Firewall. "Oh no." By removing a Pyro-type in the cemetery, they could block direct attack damage. "The soul of thestalos shields us." They removed the Firestorm Monarch, and Andre's attack ended. "Tsk. Knew it was to good to be true." He placed a trap facedown. "Your move." Mulcifer drew his card, paying 500 LP for Firewall. "Indeed." And he played a spell called Blaze Accelerator. "What, now they can use cannons too?" And Venice had seen that card before. "Look out, that effect is.." She was too late of course, Mulcifer had already loaded the ammo.

Team Sentinels LP: 4000

"By discarding a Pyro-type with less than 500 attack, a monster on the field will be destroyed. However." They discarded a threeheaded pyro-critter(500/0). "When discarding this: Volcanic Scattershot. Two more from the deck can be released." The blaze cannon loaded all three Volcanics. "And all monsters will perish." And the fiery shots pierced both their Synchros at once, destroying them. "Not so.." Or so they thought. "Fast!" One brother used an equip card to save the Light. "By sending Silver Wing away, the equipped monster will not die from an effect." The other used a trap to save the Dark. "Wicked Rebirth! I pay 800 lifepoints to special summon one Synchro from the graveyard!" Together they had avoided the deadly hail of lava bullets, Light and Dark End (2600/2100) remained. "Heh nice move."

Team Carters LP: 5300

They laughed at their unintended harmonized tactics. That said, the Scattershots sitll took down 500 lifepoints each hit. "..." The red sentinel continued. "Royal Firestorm Guard(1700/1200), the guardian of Thestalos. It's power sends four Pyro spirits back to the deck, and allows its master to draw 2 cards." He did so, returning the Scattershots and the Queen. "Set a trap card." He placed one of the drawn cards down, and ended his turn. "Right. Only one monster in the way." William said. But he realized killing it would only refuel the firewall. "I summon a Nova Summoner(1400/800). And reuse the effect of Light End." The white dragon lost more attackpoints (1600/1100), while the Royal Guard nearly lost all of it (200/0). "Watch this!" His Synchro engulfed the field in light, consuming Mulcifers last guard and inflicting 1400 damage. Then out of the light came the Nova fairy, attempting to bypass the wall of flames. "Even in death, the Guard has use." But the monster Light End had killed was removed to negate its attack.

Team Sentinels LP: 2600

"I saw that coming brother." Andre smiled. "Yes but at least he is out of Pyro-types now." He said happily. "Yes you always did like the little victories." However the Red Sentinel waited for the younger Carter to end his turn, and when he did.. "Trap!" He revealed his set card. "Global Warming. I sever creatures of the fire class from my hand." He discarded two Volcanic Shells; Pyro-types. "I jinxed it.." He sighed, yet the worst news still had to come. "Then..two water elementals are called out." The fire subsided and from the molten water came two monsters, from the other sentinels deck. "Cold Enchanter.." A female ice mage(1600/1200) "... and Blizzard Dragon." And a blue dragon (1800/1000). "_New fuel for the Firewall, and new tributes_." These two liked to work as a team as well apparently. "We have guarded this gate together, for the last few millenia. Fire can not melt our ice, water can not douse our flame." Fimbulvin immediately discarded it for Cold Enchanters effect. With it she gave the Light End Dragon an Ice-counter.

_Global Warming, Normal Trap  
__Discard all fire-type monsters in your hand. Then you can special summon water monsters from the deck, up to the same number of monsters discarded by this effect._

Now with the blue sentinels turn well underway, he did what they thought he would do. "Sacrifice." The dragon and enchanter also joined into one frozen shard, which shattered and unleashed a stronger magician. "Ice Master(2500/2000)." She was not as strong as the Night Dragon, but she could at least attack Nova Summoner. "The cold comes.." Her ice staff cut down Williams monster, but he could special summon a second when it was blown to pieces(1400/400). "I have a bad feeling about this." William knew this could not be why she was brought out. ".. Once a turn, the Blizzard mage places an Ice Counter on a monster." This time Dark End received one of these chilly snowflakes on its body. "And what do they do?" They already regretted asking. "Ice Master will give her life, to end the lives all creatures with Ice Counters. Your creations of harmony." On command, the woman reduced her essence to pure snow, flowing into the bodies of the End Dragons through the couner. "Ugh." And they were frozen up from the inside out.

Team Carters LP: 4200

"Well.." Andre drew a monster card, Infernal Queen Archfiend. "I am out of ideas." He said as the frozen dragons crumbled into a fine powder. He had nothing that would get passed the Firewall, but he summoned her anyway(900/1400). If only he could have drawn a Trap Eater. "Andre." Will suddenly spoke up. "Use my spell!" He pointed at one of his facedown cards. "If they can summon from each others decks, you can use my spells." He explained, and the sentinels did not protest. "Aha!" So he did, he flipped the magic Lightwave Tuning. "Oh? It turns a level 4 Light-monster into a tuner?" If he could not draw a tuner, his brother would make one. "Your deck really thought about everything." Nova Summoner turned into the tuner, now there were eight levels worth on the field. "I only imagined myself one Dark End for the extra deck though. But.." Fairy and fiend were combined. "I summon this, a creature both demonic and dragonic." Their synchronizing resulted in a black and red scaled dragon. "Red Dragon Archfiend(3000/2000)."

It looked imposing enough to kill the sentinels in one blow. "But how will it get passed the wall trap?" Venice wondered. "Allow me one more time." William flipped his final trap. "Trap Stun: It negates all traps for one turn." The flames of the firewall were quelled. "Oh?" Red Sentinel lost the card they had been counting on to save them. "It is time to end this, to show them how strong we humans are." The demon dragon surrounded its fist with flames. "Absolute.." It flew towards the blue and red avatars. "Powerforce!" And unleashed wave after wave of dark energy upon them. They were blown away from their positions.

Team Sentinels LP: 0

"Whoa, we won.." Gerard seemed surprised. "They did most of the hard work though." Venice smiled. "Heh. It was nice yes, to duel with you after such a long time." William felt happier than he thought he could in this place. "I'll say You have grown so much." Andre said, who sounded really excited. ".." Mulcifer and Fimbulvin got up again, they no longer stood in the way. "We were beaten, at our own game. Fire and Ice lost, we have no right to stop you." Their bodies were already disappearing. "They are not dying are they?" William started to feel bad. "No.. we can not die. As we said, these are just avatars, their destruction will allow you to pass. And yet, we feel wrong about letting you through." In their defeat, they returned to speaking at the same time. And they chose ominous words. "Still? Why can't you just say what the reason is?" Gerard asked them "..No we..can..not, it is..too...mysterious.." And then they vanished, the red and blue energy shooting upwards into the sky above the terrace. "Finally, we can move on."

Will ran ahead into the cave, and ended up in an open space. Up high was a light, and stairs encircled the vertical tunnel. "Huh. Those stairs stop after just twnety steps.." Before he could figure this puzzle out, he got distracted. "What the!" By his brother and friends. "They stood bwlow, but their smiles were gone. "Andre?" Instead they had expressions that he could describe as misschievous at best. "Thank you, William. We could not have made it here, without you." They started laughing in unison. That was not the weird part, the weird part was that all their voiced now sounded the same. "Venice.. Gerard?" And it did not resembled even one of their old selves. "Now, we have the sixth and seventh. Eheheh." Slowly but surely, he got an oddly familiar feeling from them. Not a good one, a more recent terror. "Anchors.. you mean." He ran past them and walked out the cave. "Oh no!" The portal in the bloody sky looked way different now. It was no longer unstable, it was no longer tiny, and more chains were coming from it. _"How did this..happen?"_ He looked at his own chest, and saw that one of the chains was connected to him. _"I was never, disconnected?"_ And now he saw two more chains, leading to the bodies of his friends. "You.."

At the same time, and certainly not a coincidence, the lights in the film studio started flickering. "Great, Marcus cant even pay his bills anymore." Colin quipped. "...I predict this wont end well."

(To be Continued in New Testament 050: Renascence of Ka)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Silver Wing  
Lightwave Tuning

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Trap Stun

**New Cards used by Andre Carter  
**Dark Tinker  
Infernalqueen Archfiend  
Red Dragon Archfiend

_-  
Between the Dawn and Dusk_

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Wicked Rebirth

**New Cards used by Sentinel Mulcifer  
**Volcanic Scattershot  
Royal Firestorm Guards  
Volcanic Shell

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Blaze Accelerator

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Firewall  
_Global Warming_

**New Cards used by Sentinel Fimbulvin  
**Dragon Ice  
Blizzard Warrior  
White Night Dragon  
Cold Enchanter  
Blizzard Dragon  
Ice Master

_-  
Ice Mirror(+)_

_-  
_Prideful Roar  
_(+) Based on the spell used in YGO 5D's_


	50. Renascence of Ka

**Testament 050: Renascence of Ka**

Several military helicopters headed towards the film studio, and on that route they received several calls from teams elsewhere. From a concerned government, from their friends at the airport. "I see that is good." And one came from the perimeter guards who had apparently located the missing soldiers. "It seems 'Archon' had somehow moved them five miles away, and disrupted all their technological equipment." It boggled the commanders mind to think he had that much power. "What about the keeper of the Tauk?" The Pharaoh Raness inquired, worried about the fate of the item. "That Prospero guy? They said he was not with them, either he ran off early or he was teleported elsewhere." It was not likely that he'd return to to Marcus on his own. "Wait." He returned to the comlink, the soldier on the other end had more to say. "What, are you sure?" And this turned his tone from heopful to worried. "Is something wrong?" Cable asked. "I fear so. Wherever Prospero is, he does not have the Tauk anymore. And if Archon did not have it.."

Neither did Marcus actually, but he had other valuable assets in his underground hideout. "So these are the five that Zakaria claimed huh?" The bodies of Carter and the five from the hospital, one merely comatose rather than soulless, they were all taken to the testing room on the sublevels. "Indeed. And since the portal still exists, we can assume that they still act like an anchor into our world. That was why their bodies were left intact, so the souls have a chance to return." For all clinical intents and purposes, the five were just braindead. "This Magus Ka sent two of his flunkies to stabilize the exit, and to kill the only threat to his existence." Both of them failed, but who knew when more would be sent. "What are you saying?" His apprentices felt like he was headed for a dark proposal. "I am saying, we may need to kill all five of them. Their death might be enough to close the dimensional rift." This surprised them, yet they did not object. "They already look so dead..anyway." Madlyn looked at the body of William. "It must be hellish where he is now."

...

"Who are you.." William asked the trio. "Figured it out eh?" The bodies of Andre, Gerard and Venice flickered as if they were out of focus. "Thanks to you, I came close enough to your world. This place is far enough for an anchor.." Andre and Venice collapsed, their chains still attached. "All I needed was a soul.. tainted by the Crawler, claimed by the Iron Pillar." They no longer looked like his friends, they were just people from the city. "Were they ever real, does Gerard even exist?" The 'stranger' grins only widened. "Heh, the memories were. Your memories of the brother you could not save, the girl you killed. Who knows where their souls really are. As for our friend Gerard, I was forced to imitate him, because ol' Ned died under normal circumstances." He laughed. "It's all about memories, William. I acted like they would have acted." And suddenly he changed appearance, shifting from Gerard to his own brother. "Thanks, for one last time." And Red Dragon Archfiend appeared behind him. "Fifth Anchor.." It released a crimson flame attack. "!!"

All went dark....

"What the?" A sudden black-out struck the film studio, all lights shut down at the same time. "A power failure, now of all times?" Marcus had been preparing for an analysis of the bodies, but that would have to wait now. "Bad timing I suppose. Don't we have a backup generator?" Lydia certainly hoped so, this place had no stairway back up. "Yes, but it takes a few minutes to reboot." Simmons had no idea what could have caused this. Meanwhile back upstairs, Cleo and Colin experienced the same darkness. "Deja Vu." And this was not the first time a building lost power while it held them captive. "It would be too much to assume the doors are open now?" Cleo knocked against it, but it did not budge. "Of course not, hail the old-fashioned lock and key." She rasped and sat down again. She hated long periods of inactivity. "First we get trapped, now we can not see anything. How can they make this worse?" Colin shrugged. "Let's just wait. Something nice is bound to happen.." And as if right on cue, a loud bang erupted on the other side of the door.

The generator started back up, but the lights were still dim. "Oh boss.." The emergency power went on just in time for the cameras to reveal visitors. Dozens of them, the set was teeming with soldiers. They had blown their way through the barred doors, and surrounded the many bodyguards. "They are here already?" They had woken up sooner than he would have liked, he did not even get the chance to start on his excuse. "Damn it." He picked up his phone and tried to dial out, but his name came up on the intercom first. "Simmons!" A familiar voice called out for him. "Fraser." Fraser was up there as well, along with Raness. "Oh my, so many guns." Madlyn did not look away from the screens while Lydia quickly approached the lift. "They must have cut the power, and they can do it again. So now what do we do, teacher?" She asked him, as he put away the phone. He could not reach whoever he was trying to talk to. "I guess we will have to establish a trade-off, before this devolves into a crude hostage situation."

"So you are here." Marcus finally replied over the intercom. "Simmons, there is no need for any of this. Just come to us, before you do anything stupid." Cable cried out over the noise of guns and footsteps. More and more troops shuffled inwards, but the bodyguards did not move an inch. "Step aside you. You were hired by the government to observe Marcus werent you?" The commanders shouts had no effect on them. "I am doing what needs to be done, Fraser. You barged in recklessly, cut off our power during my operation. You know what we have, yes?" Cable did know, but he focused on an earlier part of what was spoken. "The power?" Only now did he realize how dark it was inside. "We did not do that, Simmons. All we want is to talk, and for you to release Caine and Sairve." Simmons blinked. "If you want them you can find them in the dressing room." Indeed if one listened closely they could hear a girl shout. "Yes we're here, are you deaf or something!" And the speechless bodyguards stepped aside to let them through.

But then Simmons too backtracked a bit. "Wait..You did not?" Raness stepped up. "There is something else you should know. We are not safe yet.." He wanted to relay what the Commander had heard from his teleported squadron. "One of the snipers that trailed Prospero saw someone else. Archon was not working alone." They could not see who it was though due to his hood. "Whoever that was, he is still out there, and he has the Millenium Items." He put emphasis on the last word. "Item..s?" As in plural. "Yes. They saw him with a Rod, and he took Prosporo's necklace." Cable explained. "Then.. can it be?" Marcus knew just one man who used the rod all the time. "..!?" What happened next shocked even Raness, but he felt it on a different level. All at once all the lights in the building exploded. "What?" And down below, they started flickering like frantic flies. "This sensation." The pharaohs spirit also felt a strong aura press down on him. Like Archon, but much much worse. "We have to get out of here. It's coming.."

"Boss." Lydia saw something odd again. Not on the cameras this time. "Is it me, or is.. that body moving." She pointed at one of the bodies, whose fingers were twitching. "And the other too.." Madlyn noticed more movements, straining eyes and shivering jaws. "They are coming back alive? Or.." They wanted to assume the best, yet that became impossible when all five bodies opened their eyes. "The hell?" Or rather they only opened one eye, their left.. all at the same time. "I think we should listen to the Pharaoh guy." Lydia rapidly tapped the door buttons. "Look at..that." Now a dark foglike substance came from their eyes, coiling towards the floor like five serpents. "I think you may have a point." The black snakes merged together into one shadowy blot. "This is just so weird." Halliday kept staring at it. "Madlyn, come here already!" Lydia had to drag her into the elevator, and the three all rushed upwards as the darkness took a more humanoid appearance. It rose like a phantom of oil, with a single glowing eye in its head.

"Cable, are you coming or not?" Colin and Cleo were freed from the room and wasted no time to get out of there, along with most of the generals men. "I can not leave without Marcus." And he did not have to wait for much longer, the lift doors opened and out came his 'friend'. "Simmons?" He did not expect to see him so soon. "What did you see?" Raness was a little faster on the uptake. "I .. really can't tell." He had never seen anything like that. "It was like a ghost, a really dark one." Madlyn explained, excitedly even. "Oh no. Not this soon." His worst fears came true after all. "Run! Before it is.." An abrupt pain in his head cut his sentences short. "Gaah!!!" He reached for his forehead and screamed out loud. "Pharaoh?" The symbol of the Millenium glowed, reacting to the entity's presence. "Too late.. we were..too." He collapsed on the ground, reverting to Elias at the last second. "Wh-what?" He had no idea where he was, or what had happened. "Get him out of here." The Commander yelled at a nearby soldier.

"Uhm..sir." He would have liked to follow the orders, but.. "Where too?" The exits behind them were sealed, they only saw black walls. "How in the world..are those blast doors?" Simmons was quite sure his building did not have features like those. "What is going on?" A panicking Elias looked around. "Stay calm, we will get out somehow." Cable said. "And how are we supposed to do that?" Lydia snapped. She certainly saw no doors anymore. Even the elevator was hidden behind dark fog. ".." And yet in all of this darkness, they could see their own shadows. "Hey." It was if they were even blacker and thicker than the natural darkness the lack of lights created. "Not again.." To Cable's surprise, the shadows all headed in one direction, unlike how most shadows behaved. "It is here!" They crossed each other, forming what looked like a deep tear into an sinister world. And from that rift came the one-eyed phantom. "That must be him.." His features became clearer; hair, claws, steel and cloth. "The Magus Ka." Their enemy was here.

**"... This air.."** It spoke at last, with a mouth that did not seem to be there. **"It tastes.. pure.."** Upon closer inspection they saw that the entity had a mask on its face, with only one hole. **"This is what.. has been out of reach for all those centuries." **It's voice was like an echo coming from a man that stood far away, if only it really were. **"And yet.. it is not enough." **It turned its one eye on the humans in the hall. **"Nothing has changed. The imbalance persists... because of you." **One claw was stretched out towards them, Elias specifically. **"A boy.." **It said. The student flinched and stumbled backwards._ "Is she.. is she reacting to me.. or.." _He clenched the puzzle tightly. **"The Pharaoh chooses a boy for his host.. and cheats death with the phase shift of a decennium." **It did not help that he had no idea what this phantom was talking about. "Are you him, are you the Magus Ka?" Marcus finally came with the question. **"You...." **The one eye turned to Cable, to Gaines's relief. **"To call me master of Ka.. that is the truth"**__

She then spread both her arms wide.. "Whoa!" A fierce wind knocked almost everyone against the wall. **"The imperfections shall watch.."** Cable was one of the few not knocked down, along with Marcus and his aides. One of them even lost his head in the process. "!!!?" And underneath circuitry and mechanics were revealed. _"What the.. they were robots all along. He was still using them?"_ Cable was shocked, but had bigger concerns right now. "Magus! What do you want from us, what is your goal!" The phantom stopped moving. **"Beyond you, all of you, you will not understand. You must wait.. for the pillars to come.." **Out of the shadows came a new character. "What?" It was the hooded man the general had been warned about. **"The connections.." **In his arms rested several items, which he layed down on the floor. A compass, an hourglass, a small hammer, a scale set, all but the Golden rod encircled the Magus. "It is the Rod after all." Simmons recognized it instantly. "Than is that.. the body of Glyph?" As if offended, the hooded stranger glared at him. One eye in its obscured face glowed just like Ka's. "And that is.." Cable presumed, correctly, that this fellow had been carrying the Millenium Eye all along as well.

**"All are here, it is time.." **The Magus again extended her arms, as if to invoke a spell. He started speaking in a strange language that sounded faintly Egyptian. "What is he doing now?" Lydia grunted. "The objects are doing somtehing too!" Halliday saw how the four items began to shiver and glow, each having their own unique color. **"Shadows of the immortal heart, dark spirit of the human psyche.. Fuse with the matter mortal, and return to the world of light." **The final part of the chant they did get to hear. **"Iron and Silver sleep.. so awaken: Copper, Lead, Tin and Mercury!" **Four beams of light shot out of the small objects, slamming into the ceiling. From the four rays came four other entities. "More of them?" Three of them approached their master, bowing down at his feet. One, the entity coming from the Hammer, stayed with the Millenium Rod wielding man whose face was finally revealed. "Oh god." He looked more like a corpse than a man, how he could walk or carry stuff was anyone's guess.

**"Glyph, your new shadow..."**

(To be Continued in New Testament 051: Five Pillars in the Dark)


	51. Five Pillars in the Dark

**New Testament 051: Five Pillars in the Dark**

"What's keeping 'em?" Cleo and Colin looked at the film studio from the outside. It was so dark inside they could not even see what was beyond the open doors. "Sir. We have a report from the science division!" A rather thrilled soldier approached the second-in-command. "They are saying the portal closed sir!" He said in between rapid breaths. "It did? Are they certain?" This was unexpected, yet fortunate news. "Yes, no trace of it left. They provided photographic evidence." The man nodded and showed some photos. "I'll be damned, this can not be a coincidence." Cleo and Colin were not happy yet. "It might be related to whatever spooked the Pharaoh guy.." Just then a more panicked soldier ran to his superior. "Sir! We can not get in the building anymore!" He showed the troops that could net push through the darkness anymore, as if were solid stone. "What?" And he had something else to say. "We also saw an unregistered van parked nearby.." That alone was not very important to know, but. "Inside we saw some disturbing things."

"I knew it. That old man. or what's left of it. It is Glyph." They had not seen the vampire since the Millenium World. "He must have stopped draining lifeforce to become that decayed." They realized he had been in hiding for all this time, holding on to the Millenium Eye and Rod. The Tauk was also around his neck. **"Tin Pillar, you have served us well." **The Magus shadow approached the walking cadaver of a man. **"Your shadow walked this world without aim, and yet it found this.." **He reached out, into his eyesocket. **"And through it, the seven organs were remade.." **In an instant she yanked the golden item from his now hollowed eye. "Gah!" Elias looked away as he slipped the Millenium Eye into the slot on his mask. **"You heard the prayers of the Black Pillar. You allowed it to return to the world of light. Hieroglyph, the Tin servant; reunite now." **The corpse walked into the entity above the Hammer, and merged with it in a flash of light. Out came a new being, a fully rejuvenated Glyph. "Heh.. I live to serve."

Everyone had looked on in stunned silence, but they would no longer be ignored. "What are your desires, Creator?" The other three servants were still kneeling for their master. **"The rest of the items must return. And the dragons of Atlantis must be eliminated." **He swept his arm around, creating a throne from pure shadows for him to sit in. **"The rest of the lot are of no consequence.." **The general snapped as he heard this. "No Consequence? I will show you!" He took out his gun. "No don't!" Gained tried to stop him. "I have had enough of games. Whatever you are, I am sending you back to damnation." He aimed for the chest of the Magus and fired away. "!!" But even though his bullet hit its mark, the target remained unphased. "No way.. again?" The bullet had actually gone right through, hitting a wall in the background. "Only Ka can harm Ka." Hieropglyph smirked. **"Foolishness... must be purged." **The shadow master lowered its head. "Run!" Cable yelled. And that was all he could do. "Urk.."

In a flare of blackness, the commander and all of his men were erased entirely; body and soul devoured. "You monster!" Cable cursed. One of the servants intervened, a winged human wearing robes and a crowned mask. "You who hold the Key, challenge do we." He spoke strangely, as if more than one man was using his voice. "And the dragons?" Lydia had both Critias in her deck still, while Madlyn had Hermos. "Yes." The two were approached by the lead and mercury pillars; an androgynous humanoid wrapped in bandages, spikes and armor, and a black and red coated female who hid her eyes behind a reflective visor. It seemed hidden eyes was a pattern with Ka's creations. "The current owners of the dragon cards. We will beat you in a shadowduel, and destroy the last remnants of the Atlantean interference." The bandaged one spoke with a coarse tone. The woman merely nodded and approached Halliday. "A shadowgame, I always wanted one of those.." She looked forward to it, unlike Blackstone. "Tsk. They give me no choice."

**"The game of shadows. Yes, they will entertain me.." **The Magus clapped both hands together and suddenly the dark fog grew thicker. Nobody could see each other anymore. "Hey!" But Cable held unto Cable's shoulder. "Still not willing to let go?" The two continued to see each other, but they soon saw someone else. It was the Copper Pillar. "So you are the prey, of the Key and Timaeus holders." Simmons flinched, he had forgotten that he put the Timaeus card in his pocket earlier today. "But I do not have the Key with me." Fraser protested, he left it with Jackson. "That matters not, you with stays the ownership. When you lose, us to will belong the Key." He was intent on dueling them both at a time apparently. "What if we want to fight you together?" Cable asked, surprising Marcus. "What?" But not the enemy. "That is acceptable, we choose you why is that.." Then the oddest thing took place before their eyes. This one entity seemed to separate into two beings, each taking one wing, glove, half of the mask. "Twins?"

"We are the Dioscuri!" They spoke in unison, more clearly since half of their faces were uncovered. They looked like young kids behind the crowned mask. "A shadow team duel, for the right of the blue dragon and the Key of Gold." They made more sense now too. "These creations are just too bizarre." Cable sighed. "You really want me to help you, Fraser.." Marcus grumbled. "You want to face them alone, Simmons?" He smiled. "For once, I think our differences should be put aside." He activated a dueldisk from his suitcase, and Cable used his. "Just do not think this will be like before Tum'aga and Outerdeck."

Cable's LP: 8000 Marcus's LP: 8000 Dioscuri's LP: 8000

"Wait that's peculiar." They noticed their LP was not shared, each player had his own set. "The duel will be divided, each item must be claimed separately." The twins explained. "He/I will start!" The left-crowned one started the duel, and summoned what looked like a standard spellcaster monster. "Gemini Summoner(1500/0) is what I summon." Both immediately recognized that card as they had both been part of the team that made it. "A Gemini deck? They have been stuck for thousands of years and yet they know about this?" Then again Archon used Valkyries even though he was born in Egyptian times. "There must have been a way for them to interact with our world before. Perhaps Glyph helped with that." For now they had to concentrate on the duel. The enemy placed one trap facedown and passed the turn to the others. "My turn." Fraser spoke before Simmons could. "I summon a Protoss Scout(1800/2050) and activate their headquarters." The field spell Protoss Nexus was activated, boosting the scouting jets powers(2050/1750). But during his endphase, the Gemini Summoner could use its effect. "We pay 500 LP to normal summon a Gemini from the hand." The left twin called out a small warrior, the Gemini Soldier(500/300)

Dioscure's LP: 7500 Dioscure's LP: 8000

_Protoss Scout, 4/1800/1550 Light/Machine  
__This monster cannot attack the turn it is summoned. When this monster succesfully attacks and destroys an opponent's monster,  
__after damage calculation, inflict damage to your opponent's life points equal to half the original attack or defense of the destroyed monster._

"Aha. The two do not share life either." Simmons was happy to see that, somewhat. But in the other twins turn, he merely repeated the moves of his left counterpart. "Summon the summoner of Gemini, and set a trap." He placed the same spellcaster on the field (1500/0). "Do they have the same hands though? At any rate it will be hard to distinguish one from the other." Only the fact that they looked like mirror images helped. "Let's just call them by their directions, one is leftwinged the other rightwinged." The silence of the Dioscuri implied they did not mind. "Very well. Now I can go." Marcus placed two trap cards down and a monster card. He would be on the defense for his first turn, though he would not be able to shield Cable with a facedown monster. "Now will they do it?" And he ended his turn, just to see his theory get confirmed. 'Rightwing' normal summoned a Gemini Soldier(500/400) from his hand as well. "Even their field is identical." If this kept up, they could at least predict half their strategy.

Rightwings LP: 7500

"Trap card." But then both twins flipped their continous traps at the same time. "Ultimate Offering: We pay five hundred lifeforce for additional normal summons." The other team understood how good that card was for them, as Gemini monsters only got their effects when normal summoned twice. "Like this." His first normal summon was used to bring out a rock warrior, the Goggle Golem (1500/500). Then Leftwing payed 500 lifepoints twice, to resummon the Golem and Gemini Soldier. "Now they are alive.." Golems effect boosted its attack (2100/500). "And now the battle." The Giant Goggle punched through the Protoss Scout. "They are after you eh?" Then Gemini Summoner unleashed a magic blast on Cable, while the Soldier tossed a dart into his leg. "Ghk." It was indeed a real dart. "What is real and what is not." He had to pull it from his leg. "Gemini Soldiers effect will activate when he inflicts damage to an opponent." Then from the deck, the Soldier special summoned another Gemini spirit. "Blazewing Butterfly.(1500/1500)" This one could attack directly as well. "Blast it." His arms got singed by the insects fiery wings. "Already we are halfway done for." Well he was at least, Simmons did not seem to mind. "But now its my turn."

Leftwings LP: 6500 Cable's LP: 4450

"I set a card and summon Protoss Corsair!" Next came the warship of the Protoss race, empowered by the Nexus (1600/1200). "When this monster attacks an aerial monster, it gains a thousand attackpoints!" Both the monsters with 'Gemini' in their name were of the wind element. "Fire away!" The Corsair(2600/1200) unleashed a neutron flare explosion against the very weak Soldier. ".." Leftwing however endured the blast wordlessly, most of it never reached him. "Cable, have you forgotten?" The Soldier came from the smoke unharmed. "Gemini Summoner and Gemini Soldier can not be killed in battle once per turn, I know. I was going for damage. However during the battle phase the twins were allowed to use Ultimate Offering as well. "Normal summoning this one!" Leftwing called another monster from his hand, a cybernetic defender. "Dawnbreak Gardna(1500/500)." And during the endphase they could reuse Gemini Summoners effect, paying 500 more LP to re-normal summon the Blazewing Butterfly.

Leftwings LP: 3400

_Protoss Corsair, 4/1400/1000 Machine/Light  
__When this monster battles a Wind-attribute monster, or a Winged-Beast type monster, increase this monster's attack by 1000 during damage calculation only._

Rightwing made his move, but he did not summon what they expected. "Gemini Lancer(1800/1400)." It was a dual-trident wielding amphibian warrior. "I guess their hands are not equal after a certain point. Maybe they split certain monsters between their decks." In any case, after Rightwing used Ultimate Offering twice to activate the effect-modes of his Gemini cards, the Lancer set its sights on Cable. "Not again." One of its lances punctured the Protoss warship, leaving him wide open. "Don't you have a trap Marcus?" he asked quickly as the Summoner and Soldier closed in. "Feh, your own cards are useless Fraser. I planned on saving it, but you leave me no choice." A spell and a dart headed for his partner. "Trap: Warriors Tomb!" Marcus used the trap that destroyed one attacking card. "I use it on the soldier!" The dart was stopped. "I will assume you did that to stop it from special summoning another Gemini Monster." Cable still had to take a hit from the magic blast. "We/I will set one card, and end my/our turn."

Rightwings LP: 6500 Cable's LP: 2750

"Hmph.." Marcus may have saved his 'friend' that time. But right now Leftwing had a total of five monsters on his field. "If I do not attack now, you will certainly die. That is not good for me.." He drew a card, and chuckled. "But then I did keep the best cards for myself.. I play Scream from Beyond!" He used an equip spell, on the Goggle Golem. "I can take control of an opposing monster, at the cost of 1000 LP a turn." A loud shout mesmerized the rock gemini, and turned it over to Simmons. "And now for the others.. I flip Needle Worm." When flip summoned, the worm(750/600) forced the enemy to discard five cards. Leftwing was his target and he discarded the five. "Then the spell card Worm Bait. When an insect is on my field, I can special summon two worm tokens." Two small red worms(0/0) appeared in defense mode. "Now, I sacrifice one Bait token and the Needle Worm.." He called out his trump card, the level eight tombstone monster. "Grave Wraith(2600/2200). It gains 100 attackpoints for every card in their grave!"

The creature opened five coffins in its phantasmal body, and absorbed power from Leftwings deceased monsters (3100/2200). "A double attack, I will get rid of that other Soldier now!" Both the stolen Goggle and the Wraith advanced on the Gemini warrior. Golems attack took a big chunk out of his masters lifeforce. "And if the next attack hits." Leftwing only had 1400 lifepoints left. He would not survive another hit, nor could Ultimate Offering protect him. "Go!" The Wraith destroyed the Soldier completely with necrotic energy which continued towards the Dioscuri. He was pierced right through the stomach. "Yes!" And yet he healed completely afterwards. "What? No!" Both duelists saw how in the last seconds before the attack hit, Leftwings lifeforce rose. In fact it became the same as Rightwings LP, it stopped at 6500. "He saved his other self?" And when the Wraith did strike, he could not be killed by the damage. "We are the Dioscuri, together we stand and fall. You can not kill one of us, as long as the other lives!"

Leftwings LP: 3900

(To be Continued in New Testament 052: Divide and Conquer)

**New Cards used by Cable Fraser  
**_Protoss Scout  
__Protoss Corsair_

**New Cards used by Marcus Simmons  
**Worm Bait

**Cards used by The Dioscuri  
**Gemini Summoner  
Gemini Soldier  
Goggle Golem  
Blazewing Butterfly  
Dawnbreak Gardna  
Gemini Lancer

-  
Ultimate Offering


	52. Divide and Conquer

**New Testament 052: Divide and Conquer**

"What is your name?" Madlyn asked the opponent before her, the one that came from the hourglass. "Name?" She repeated as if the concept was foreign to her. "Yeah. It would be fair to at least know the name of the one who wants to be the master of this." She showed the card of Hermos. "Fair.." The female in red and black tilted her head. "Fair.. What.. Is.. Master.." She reached for her head, as if in pain. "Hey are you." But the woman snapped out of it. "Fa..t...i..ma.. The name is Fatimah.." She then activated her dueldisk. "The shadowgame begins eh?" Madlyn was estatic. ".. Yeah.."

At another shadowgame...

Rightwings LP: 6500 Leftwings LP: 3900

Marcus's LP: 8000 Cable's LP: 2750

Grave Wraith's attack should have finished him, but one twin was saved by the other. "They can only be defeated at the same time? Or else they will heal their own lifeforce?" He did not expect or believe that they could have powers like that, outside of the cards themselves. "We are not dealing with regular foes. We will have to weaken them both, they apparently can only regenerate when we are about to kill one of them. At any rate, they can not destroy my Wraith so easily." Because his monster had killed the level 2 Gemini Soldier, 2 more cards were discarded from Leftwings deck, the three new cards in the cemetery empowered the Grave spirit (3400/2200). Marcus then ended his turn, during which Scream from Beyond inflicted 1000 damage to his life. But during the endphase Rightwing could also use his Gemini Summoners(1500/500); paying 500 lifepoints to summon a Gemini monster. "Resummoning Dawnbreak Gardna." And he chose to resummon his partners monster, the metal guarder whose defense now rose (1500/2300).

Rightwings LP: 6000 Marcus's LP: 7000

"..Thanks myself." The Dioscuri laughed, as the Dawnbreaker was switched to defense position. "But the human seems bored. I/we should pay it attention." Leftwing drew again and placed his gloveless hand on a card. "Blazeing Butterfly's effect activates! We can sacrifice it to special summon a Gemini, with its abilities already unlocked." The fiery butterfly burst into flames, and from its ashes came the ever-detestable Gemini Soldier(500/300). "And then, Magical Reflect Slime." His next Gemini was a blue slime(700/1200), which Simmons recognized. "Damn. If that one attacks, the damage will be transferred to me." And they let no time go to waste, Ultimate Offering activated the Reflector Slime's effect. It then slithered towards the Grave Wraith. "Curse them." He was forced to kill it, and suffer the difference between their attackpower. And since a level 3 card had been killed, 4 more cards were in the cemetery(3900/2200). "That's enough for one side." After that the Summoner and Soldier repeated their assault on the helpless Fraser.

Cable's LP: 750 Marcus's LP: 4300 Leftwings LP: 3400

"Ugh.." But before Gemini Soldier could special summon anything, he set off the trap. "Disruption Web!" A web of energy surrounded the Soldier and the level four Blazewing it was about to call out. "When a monster is called from the deck, I can return it." No Gemini appeared on the field to finish off Cable. "Instead the web will revive a lower-leveled monster that has died already." Yet there was only one Gemini in the cemetery with a level under four. "Magical Reflect Slime.." To the dismay of Marcus, that monster returned. "Sorry Simmons, I had to save myself. But it should be fine, this Slime is still in normal monster-mode." Or so he thought, until Rightwing flipped his set card too. "Oh is it? Super Double Summon!" He used a quickplay spell, which resummoned a Gemini on the field. "Fraser.." Marcus grumbled, as the Slime regained its reflective effect. It too squashed itself in the face of the Wraith, who discarded another three cards (Grave Wraith: 4300/2200). "You better have something to make up for that.."

Marcus's LP: 1200

_Disruption Web, Counter Trap  
__When your opponent special summons a monster from the deck you can remove 1 'Protoss' monster card in your graveyard to return that monster to the opponents deck.  
__Then select 1 monster with a lower level from your opponent's graveyard and special summon it to their side of the field._

"You underestimate what I create, Simmons." He drew something very good. "Protoss Dark Templar(1900/1400). This one can not attack, but can destroy all monsters of a certain element when normal summoned." He knew which one to choose, Dawnbreak was Light, Gemini Lancer was Water, but the two Summoners and the one Soldier were Wind. "Destroy the Aerial!" Using its psi-blade, the Templar cut down both Gemini magicians and the dart thrower in one swipe. "And there is more. I have enough to do a Psionic Melding!" He activated the spell Polymerization. "I fuse that Dark Templar with the one in my hand." Two Protoss Templars fused their souls into one entity, a red energy being called Dark Archon(2300/2300). "This melded Protoss can control minds. I discard one card to brainwash one monster." He discarded the last card in his hand and pointed at Rightwing. "I am taking your Lancer!" The trident warrior abandoned the Copper Pillar, leaving him open. "Direct attack!" Wide open for a maelstrom of psionic energy.

Rightwings LP: 3700

_Protoss Dark Templar, 4/1900/1400 Dark/Beastwarrior  
__This card cannot attack the turn it is summoned. When this monster is succesfully normal summoned, choose one monster attribute.  
__Destroy all monsters on the field with the same attribute as the chosen one, and as long as this card is face-up, neither player can summon a monster of the selected attribute._

_Protoss Dark Archon, 8/2300/3000 Dark/BeastWarrior/Fusion  
__Protoss Dark Templar + Protoss Dark Templar  
__You can discard one card from your hand to take control of an opponent's face-up monster. That monster can not attack and is removed from play during the end of the turn._

It appeared Leftwing had no monsters in his hand anymore, as he did not use Ultimate Offering. Either that or his last card was a wind-elemental. "That was better." Marcus smiled. "I thought so. Now during my endphase, Gemini Lancer will leave the field." He ended his turn and watched the seaserpent sink into the shadows. "Oh.. they both have strong monsters. What are/am we/I to do?" Dioscuri did not sound threatened. "Oh I have an idea." Rightwing drew his next card, and summoned a monster from his hand. "Future Samurai(1600/1200)." That was a Gemini card so often-used, even Cable realized how bad this was. "Oh no." After they used Ultimate Offering to summon it again, causing its blade to glow. "They remove one monster in the grave, to destroy one on the field." The shade-wearing samurai leaped into the air, and sent a wave towards the Dark Archon. "They are after me?" His fusion was destroyed by the effect, and now he was the one with no defenses. "Fraser!" The sword came next, cutting into his shoulder.

Rightwings LP: 3200 Cable's LP: 0

"Hgk!" He was knocked down to the floor, losing blood from the wound. "We kept it shallow, he wont die." Rightwing chuckled. "Not until we can take the Key at least." Leftwing followed his twins example. Combined their laughter sounded like it came from one source. "Blast.. I was of no help." Cable sighed, trying to ignore the pain. "No you were not." Marcus said. Though he knew they ignored him because he had a defense monster left on the field. "But you did what you could. Now we will see if I can do better." He knew who to target. "I normal summon the Shield Worm(800/2000). When summoned the insect will switch to a defense position." The caterpillar-like insect curled up into a defensive position. "Also, it discards cards for every Insect on the field." Besides itself there was the Worm Bait-token, so two more cards were taken from Leftwings deck. "Grave Wraith gains 100 points from those. And...." He entered the battle phase, the Goggle Golem(2100/1500) he stole punched through the Samurai. ".. from that one as well."

Rightwings LP: 2700

With 2 more cards discarded, and 3 more dead (2 due to the Dark Templar), Grave Wraith(4800/2200) had gained a lot of power. "Oh!" Enough to finish the enemy. "There is no point in trying to save each other, if neither has the lifeforce to endure this hit!" The Wraith decided to attack Rightwing, as Leftwing still had Dawnbreak to hide behind. "Die!" It would have worked, except he forgot one common factoid. "Ultimate Offering!" That trap could be used during his battle phase. "!!" Rightwing summoned a Aquarian Alessa(1500/500), a water nymph. She took the blow, intercepting 1500 of the 4800 attackpoints headed towards the Right Twin. "You failed, we succeed!" Of course then Leftwing used his innate ability, raising his twins lifeforce until he too had 3400 lifepoints. "They lived.." The powerful dark blast merely took out 3300 of 3400. "But I will not go down easily." He acyivated his facedown trap. "Necromantic Hunger. I can sacrifice one monster, and gain 300 LP for each level it has." He decided to offer the Goggle Golem before the Scream spell could take away too much lifepoints, and he gained 1200. "If only we knew.. how they were doing that." Twice they could have won, if not for their unique skill. "Set a card, end turn."

Rightwings LP: 100 Marcus's LP: 2400

_Necromantic Hunger, Normal Trap  
__Send one monster on your side of the field. Increase your LP by 300 for every star on the selected monster card and destroy it. _

"Our/my turn." Leftwing's added a card to his hand. ".." Both looked at the trap Marcus had set, and seemed to hesitate. _"What will they do?" _In the end the twin decided not to use the card he had drawn, instead he played a spell from his hand. "Swing of Memories, we revive a normal monster." Marcus flinched, they would undoubtedly revive Magical Reflect Slime. "Counter trap; Crypt Curse!" He reacted just in time to stop it. "I pay 1000 LP to negate your spell." The Memory Swing was sent to the crypts. "We see that. That is why we will use this instead." Yet now Leftwing did use his spell. "Gemini Spark: One Gemini on the field will be sacrificed." He destroyed Dawnbreak. "And then one of yours will have to follow." The duelist gasped, they were destroying his trump card! "Grave Wraith, farewell." The phantom itself joined the darkness of the dead, leaving the two worms as his sole defenders. "Then the spell will give me/us one card." Leftwing drew again, and the mouth not covered his mask formed a half-smile. "Victory."

Marcus's LP: 1400

_Curse of the Crypt, Counter Trap  
__Pay 1000 LP to negate the activation of one spell or trap card and destroy it._

He normal summoned his final dual spirit, a dark warrior(1500/1200). "Infinity Dark, this will send you to the shadows of defeat." Leftwing offered 500 LP to summon it again with his trap. "It's effect.." He was about to attack. "I know, curse it all.." Infinity Dark could switch a defending monster to attackposition. "Saved us the talking.." He had one very weak monster on the field. "I/We/I choose that one." The Dark Gemini shifted the tokens(0/0) position. "No.. Marcus." Cable could only watch helplessly as his partner was about to share his fate. "Finish!" Infinity Dark raised his hands to invoke a burst of shadows that engulfed the bait worm. Marcus lost all his lifeforce and was pushed to the cold ground as well. "We the Dioscuri win, we shall now claim your prices in the name of our Creator!"

Marcus's LP: 0 Leftwings LP: 2900

And at the third shadowgame.

Lydia's LP: 7500 Lead Pillars LP: 8000

"Tsk. Stop defending already." Lydia hissed at the man/woman/whatever opposing her. She had been hiding behind weak monsters for the last few turns, undamaged and untouched. Right now three shield monsters remained, two Giant Germs (1000/0) and a Treeborn Frog (100/100) "..The Germs, they shall be a sacrifice." But the duel was about to take a turn, she called out something of a high level, and it was in attack mode. "What the?" What came out was just as androgynous as the Lead Pillar, a halfmale/halffemale demonoid. "Yubel.." That was the cards name, but Lydia did not recognize it.. "Equipment card, Megamorph." The enemy also played a spell that doubled a monsters attack, but only if the controllers lifepoints were the lowest of the two. "How is that helpful?" Yet his thing had no strength at all (0/0), so the spell would never do anything. "One card is set. And the turn ends. During the endphase Yubel will claim one monster as a sacrifice.." Treeborn Frog was removed from the field.

"I don't get it....Feh." On her field she had two Blackwings; Armed Wing(2300/1000) and Mistral Silver Shield(100/1800). "I activate the spell card, Raptor Wing Strike! I send one Blackwing to my deck to add another to my hand." She returned the Silver bird, and added a level 3 tuner to her hand. "When added to my hand, I can special summon this. Breeze the Gentle Wind." A colorful orange winged beast flew through the shadows (1100/300). "Then I normal summon Shura the Blue Flame(1800/1200), and tune the two together!" The orange and blue birds were combined for the Synchro Summon of the Armor Master(2500/1500). "I attack your monster!" Armor Master flew straight towards Yubel, punching it in the gut. "Hey what?" Yet the demon suffered no wounds, and instead her life shot down. "Gaahh! What the hell?"

Lydia's LP: 5000

"The power of Yubel, is to share pain. It will not die in battle, and return all damage to the assailant." Now Lydia knew why such a weak thing was not bothering to protect herself. "Then I wont attack it, until I figure out a way to destroy it." She had several combos in her mind. "No. The duel will end now." The Lead Pillar activated her trap. "Equip Shot. An equipped spell will switch control." Megamorpfh was placed on the Armor Blackwing. "But my life is lower?!" Because the controller of the equip card was still the bandaged one, and her/his life was higher, Blackstone's monster had its attack doubled (5000/1500). "And the monster equipped with that spell will have to confront the monster that lost the spell. Even if it has already struck.." Her eyes widened, her Synchro flew towards Yubel against its will. "No." The Blackwing punched Yubel once more, only to be pushed back and send negative energy to its master, 5000 points worth of energy. "Gaahhh!!" The agony was immense, it hit every nerve and every muscle.

Lydia's LP: 0

**"Annihilated.."** And as she fell, abruptly the shadows around her were lifted. She was back in the studio set, back in the 'throne room' of the Magus. **"So they all fall. Powerless before the pillars." **Lydia could see that Madlyn, Marcus and Cable had returned as well; they were all either unconscious or paralyzed. But certainly they all had lost their duels. **"Now the prices will be claimed.. and we will remove one last obstruction from our midsts" **Only Elias remained, shivering and cornered. "_What.. what should I do?"_

(To be Continued in New Testament 053: Ruin)

**New Cards used by Cable Fraser  
**_Protoss Dark Templar  
__Protoss Dark Archon_

-  
Polymerization

-  
_Disruption Web_

**New Cards used by Marcus Simmons  
**Shield Worm

-  
_Necromantic Hunger  
__Crypt Curse_

**New Cards used by the Dioscuri  
**Magical Reflect Slime  
Future Samurai  
Aquarian Alessa  
Infinity Dark

-  
Super Double Summon  
Swing of Memories  
Gemini Spark

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Breeze the Gentle Wind

-  
Raptor Wing Strike

**Cards used by The Lead Pillar  
**Treeborn Frog  
Giant Germ  
Yubel

-  
Megamorph

-  
Equip Shot


	53. Ruin

**New Testament 053: Ruin**

For them it could have been mere minutes or several hours, but they all received the same fate at the same time in the end. For Elias it was just a matter of an instant; he only got a few seconds to think about the word 'shadowgame', and they had ended. For within the shadows time could move as fast or slow as the master desired. The Magus wished to see all opponents lay down before him as a single party, it did not matter if one put up a batter fight. Madlyn was unconscious, Lydia was writhing in pain, Marcus and Cable were exhausted and wounded; not one of them could defeat the pillars. They were annihilated as the phantom said. "Damn it." Only Marcus had enough energy left to speak. "These games are not.. fair." The enemy before him, the Dioscuri twins, merged back into one symmetrical being. He walked up to the duelist. "This is what happens, when you stand against the copper pillar. Us to belongs the Millenium Key and the card Dragon." One could not be claimed right now, but Timaeus was taken from Simmons's coat.

At the same time the nameless bandaged servant took Critias from a helpless Blackstone, and Fatimah took it away from the knocked out Halliday. "For our creator, the dragons of Atlantis are." The Lead, Mercury and Copper pillars placed the three cards at the feet of their master. **"Yes, the relics of an ancient civilization. The kingdom that discovered the powers of Ka before us.." **He stepped down from his throne, glaring at the cards with his golden eye. **"The souls of the knights stayed in this world, foreseeing our arrival. But in the end they too were powerless.." **He opened his hand, the trio of cards started to glow. **"Now they will suffer the future fate of the priests.." **The throne of shadows started to tremble and pulsate, it emanated waves of darkness which pulled in the cards like a magnet. "?" Elias saw how Timaeus, Critias and Hermos were swallowed by the black oil-like substance, their light gone forever. **"The humans have lost one more messiah. Only he remains."** Now everyone looked straight at the student.

"No.." He shook the puzzle, as if he was trying to wake Raness up again. "Come out, come out now! They need you!" He could not help, what could he do against all of them if he could not even beat Archon on his own. "Come on. Why can't you..." By now the four had surrounded him, but kept their distance. "Can not.. come?" They sounded curious, as if they also did not know why Raness was not responding. "Child." Hieroglyph spoke up. "This does not have to be your concern. You can choose to surrender the puzzle, forsake ownership of it to us and just walk away. You never wanted to be a part of this, did you?" His tone was condescending, yet laid back. "Your.. friend already tried that. I can not trust you!" He was affraid, but he was not going to let that cloud his judgment again. "Simple. You are looking at the body who completed that puzzle." Hieroglyph smirked. "What?" Gaines did not see that coming. "In a past life, I too hunted for this treasure. In a past life I was like you.. Elias Gaines. I am 'a descendant'."

Marcus groaned as he heard that. This had been a theory of his, but he did not expect it to be true. "Like me? But..why are you on the Magus' side?" He did not think 'the chosen one', could be an evildoer. "Glyph's existence is difficult to explain, kid. Suffice it to say that Glyph had the option of many identities over many lifetimes, all members of that special family tree . All to bring about the return of my creator." That explained a little, but not enough. "Why should I give this up to you? You will kill me anyway, you want to kill all of humanity so why should I run to live just a few more days?" He clenched the puzzle close to his chest. "Kill?" The bandaged spat, as if he/she had been insulted. "He does not understand the design." Dioscuri laughed. "Humanity, Magus give up all humanity, but not kill." Fatimah sighed.

**"Human." **The Magus spoke to him now. **"You fear, you hesitate, you question..and then you die. You, Host, do not understand that you are also imperfect. " **He sat down again. **"We need the Puzzle, we need all seven forged from gold. Three remain unclaimed." **Seven apparently was always the magical number. **"All the world will come to accept the design afterwards, for now all they can do is resist and struggle. Their bodies and souls remain anchored in a false light, perpetuating the cycle of a flawed existence. But the seven can end this cycle.." **Gaines barely had an idea what he was talking about, yet he had to ask. "How.." How could seven items do all that? **"By returning to the source. By opening the gateway between worlds, the gate of Alkahest." **For some reason his head started throbbing when that name was dropped. **"Imperfect beings tasted the golden power, I can make them accept it.. removing all shadows and weaknesses.. all of mortality."**

And now they knew, in a vague manner, what the Magus wanted to do. "But then.. why take all those souls, kill all those people in the city?" He still did not want to believe in their supposed nobility, especially with their often cruel games. "No soul is wasted, they are simply kept out of the reincarnation loop." Said Hieroglyph, who stood a lot closer now. "We too are imperfect beings, the difference is that we can see like our creator." They all pointed at their own eyes, which were either gone or covered. Hieroglyph was missing one eye entirely so he could carry around that Millenium item. "The Creator made us.. from mortal flesh and immortal Ka." The Lead Pillar said. "To open Alkahest.. we can not let anyone stand in our way. Even if we have to destroy their bodies.. or banish their spirits." Elias was silent now, he no longer could think of anything to say. They all said things that sounded benevolent, yet his heart continuously told him otherwise. **"Host, choose now..the shadows.. or the eternal.." **Marcus held his breath, saying anything would probably just cause him to make the wrong decision. ".." Gaines knew not what he wanted, or what he did not want. Not until he remembered a part of his own life.. "!"

On the outside of the studio, the army had been waiting for signs of activity. The darkness started to spread out over the building like black paint. "If Cable had not been in there, we could have just left already." Cleo hissed. "Aren't you forgetting Elias?" Colin asked her. "That kid.. eh I suppose we need him too. If only he was not such an indecisive.." Before that sentence was finished, they heard a loud noise coming from the inside. "What the?" Then a bright flash followed, which cut through the shadows like a hail of bullets. "Good lord!" They could see inside the area at last. "Cable?!" They noticed the four people on the ground, and one student standing at the edge of the illuminated area. "You can come in now! Get these people out of here." The person shouted at the soldiers. "But where are the others?" They did not see their commander anywhere. "Just do it!" Finally they came into the light sphere and pulled the four other duelists to safety. "How in the hell?" Colin did not know Pharaoh spirits could do that trick.

The soldiers did not see what was beyond the light barrier though, the four pillars and their master who were driven back by the golden glow. "The Pharaoh I presume?" Hieroglyph was impressed. "To my enemies yes. I see that all of you have changed as well over the millenia." Raness had come out after all, responding to his hosts emotions. "I had forgotten how oppressive your powers were, Magus." He smiled. Whether the Magus was surprised or not, he could not tell. But the phantom soon replied. **"Your memories are is still not restored, are they Lord Raness?" **He said in a mocking tone.** "Do you intend to duel us here, with only one of the three Gods unsealed?" **At any rate, there was no fear in his voice. "No. I surfaced merely to save my companions, and to stop the stream of lies." He started to walk away, while keeping eye contact. "I remember enough Ka. I remember how you torched my kingdom and sacrificed soul after soul. You have no good intentions for this world. I will save it from your evil.. for good."

And then he stepped out of the opening the Puzzle had made, leaving the five entities in the darkness. "We need to leave now." He said to the soldiers. "What about the other survivors?" They asked him. "I fear there are none. If you want to save their souls, we need to live through this day." He looked back at the studio, which was now a mass of darkness. "..." He did not understand why nobody followed him out, until he looked up. "The sun?" Maybe because they were born out of the shadows, but he believed a weakness to the sunlight was possible. They did after all go through the trouble of relocating the portal to the inside. "Pharaoh?" Raness was soon approached by Cleo. "What are we supposed to do now? If the enemy is right there, can't we just bomb the place?" She saw no point in actually dueling someone that could put four people down at once. "But isn't Carters body still inside?" Colin pointed out in the background. "If he is not dead already." She countered. "We can discuss this later. We need to fall back and regroup."

Inside the four servants circled around the exit of the set. "Pharaoh escaped, all of them saved." Dioscuri was disappointed. From the look of things either Pillar had been expecting to duel the great Pharaoh. "If he beat Archon and commands Obelisk, he is their greatest ally." The bandaged one turned to the Magus. "Creator, do we follow them?" But Ka shook his head. **"Until we have collected all the Items, there is no purpose to risking a power struggle with God. As long as the sun shines down on this part of the world, our powers will be weakened." **He looked towards the current collection of Millenium Items. **"Mercury Pillar." **He telekinetically picked up the Millenium Tauk and gave it to the scarlet woman. **"You know what to do. Track down what belongs to me, what will belong to me." **She nodded and put the necklace around her neck. "What to do.. The Items power, shine it down on what belongs to the Creator." The eye symbol on it started to glow, but the color was a pale red rather than golden.

"No.. we were too late?" Christine and company heard the news. "They revived that Magus guy after all? Even though they stopped Archon?" They were informed along the way to the studio area, though by now the pilot had gotten orders to change course. "Then it was all for nothing." Nero hated this. Everything Marcus or they had done could not prevent the coming of Ka. "But what about Lydia or Madlyn?" Ceasar was more worried about his colleagues. "They will be fine. They suffered no physical injuries.. sir Fraser however will need some time in intensive care." Jackson cringed. "They did that much to him." He took something out of his coat. "Wait, you hid it in such a simple place all along?" He took out the Millenium Key. "They wanted this, no doubt." He did not know it yet, but the Key was no longer on their side. "They will want the other Items too. How are we supposed to find them now." The base they normally used to find Items was taken over. _"Damn it. At this rate we will never save you William."_

In the darkness there was a light. "Am I..dead?" William asked himself. But then he questioned how that would work, since he was already a soul stuck in a hellish netherworld. "Oh!" The memories came back, and so did sensations. "Where the.." He remembered being blasted off the mountain by the one that pretended to be his brother and Venice. Then came the blackout._ "But this is not the ground..."_ He looked around and saw that he was actually on top of something else, caught between two waving wings. This looked oddly familiar to him. "Timaeus?" For a second he thought he was riding the blue dragon he used to wield all those months ago. "No?" Instead it was a dragon he did not recognize, it had blue scales and wings, but was thinner and sleeker. "I do not get this, but I will accept any miracle." He flew back up the tower with it. "Here I come, whoever you are!" And a few moments later he had returned to the terrace where the betrayal began. "What in damnation?" And the stranger was still there, and he looked quite surprised.

"You..actually made it back here, on such short notice." Williams Dragon set foot on the ground in front of the cave, dropping him off before dematerializing. "When did you find a chance to summon that?" He asked. "I have a question for you first. What the hell are you?" This time he would not let him get away. "You want a straight answer? You would not even understand.. But maybe if I mention names like Turner and Jacob.." Carters eyes narrowed. "Yeah you recall those dont you? I am like them.. A lesser shadow, an offshoot of the mighty Magus. But unlike Jacob and Turner I was stuck here until you anchors came along." He suddenly shifted from his Gerard-appearance to that of Venice. "Then the mighty Pillars suddenly needed me, my unique powers. My ability to summon the memories of others. It was an easy trick for me to make you think you were hanging around with miss Gray and mister Carter. But I no longer need to put up this charade.. now.." And then he shifted to Andre's appearance. "Now I will use you to get out of here."

(To be Continued in New Testament 054: Cain to his Abel)


	54. Cain to his Abel

**New Testament 054: Cain to his Abel**

"You need me.. ?" Carter asked the one pretending to be his brother. "Heh." But he suddenly ran off, into the cave. "Wait!" Was that guy trying to escape? He could not allow that. "Stop!" He followed him into the mountain, up the stairs. Only to reach the same dead end he had seen before. The stairs only lead to an opening underneath a light in the ceiling. A ceiling that was a good few miles above them. "Where..are you..going?" Will at least had him cornered now, or so he thought. "To your world of course. I can not use the gateway made for Ka.. but the inside of this tower is a far older connection to the human world. This platform." He stepped on it. "Is like an elevator.. the last failsafe. I thought I could use it, but apparently.." He waited until Will himself had his feet on the platform. Then it started rumbling. "It only reacts to someone who has a body waiting for him on the other side." The elevator was moving. "So it is a good thing you came back so quickly. I am going to become the new soul in that body of yours."

He promptly materialized a dueldisk from his arm, only it looked more twisted and organic than the one he used as Andre. "You want to fight me for it? What makes you even think you can pull off being me?" Will did the same, producing the sleeker original version. "I have read your memories, haven't I? And it does not matter much, whatever friends you have wont be alive much longer." The platform was now steadily rising up towards the light above. "What? Do you mean what you did to those souls.." He now realized that the other two bodies had disappeared. "Yes, the Magus has been released from this world already. I finished the tasks of Zakaria and the portal of the one you call Turner. You did not even realize you were leading two more anchors to your world... " He cackled. "That reminds me, I have not even given you a name to remember. Gerard might do, but he was just another victim in the end. Instead I think I shall go with the title the Egyptians gave me all that time ago..I am Facade. And soon I will be William Carter."

Williams LP: 8000 Facade's LP: 8000

".." The duel was on, both players drew their cards. "Your deck." William was curious however, right now this Facade person had the face of Andre. "You wonder what I will use? Heh it could be anyone couldn't it?" He suddenly took on the appearance of Venice Gray. "Your old friends." Then he looked like Nero Jacobus. "Dead or alive.." He even imitated the loathsome appearance of Edgar. "I could even be a villain. To make it easy for you.." Yet in the end he shifted back to his brothers image. "I think this will be my choice. It aggravates you the most, and the deck I crafted for him suits me best. My inner spirit has always been a little demonic." He drew five cards. "But enough mincing the past. This lift to the mortal plane will not wait forever. You can make the first move, William." Now Will knew what to expect, but in a way he had hoped for it. "I set one monster card facedown and end my turn." In his hand he had some combos already, but he had used them all fighting side by side with 'Andre'. They would not surprise that one..

"Hmm. A set card, what could it be? Nova Summoner is one choice.. something with high defense does not seem likely. You tend to think about long-term advantages.." Facade drew a card from his fleshy dueldisk. "Let's see if I know you as well as I should. I summon Mad Archfiend!" From his hand came a redhaired demon that had teeth and a skull instead of an abdomen(1800/0). "Mad Archfiend can pierce the enemies!" The archfiend released a hail of bone bullets on Williams defender. "Aha!" What took the blow was a pair of gel-like fairies(1700/0). "Gellen Duo, the angels that will not die in battle." Despite that explanation, Duo died anyway and Carter suffered 1800 piercing damage. "But it dies when I take damage through other means." Will grunted in pain. "That is not the worst, look behind you." Abruptly the platform started to crack. "!?" Pieces fell all the way down. "This platform depends on lifeforce as well. Remember what the sentinels said. If you can not prove your strength, you do not deserve to leave!"

Wills LP: 6200

Facade placed two trap cards and ended his turn. "Then does that go for you as well?" Wills could now attack him. "You can try. But when attacked my Mad Archfiend will switch to defense position. You wont hurt me this turn I reckon." The mouth of Andre twisted into a smirk. "I do not want to damage you randomly, Facade." He summoned part one of his combo, Chaos End Master(1500/1000). "That trick?" He had indeed seen it before. "You know what will happen." He sent the twilight spellcaster to attack the demon. It switched to defense mode like Facade had told him. "When it kills a monster, the End Master I can call out the Chaos Sphere." Mad Archfiend died, sending bones and teeth all over the place. After that the black glowing orb (1600/0) came from his deck. "Main phase 2: I will Synchro Summon a monster!" He tuned the Chaos tuner of the 3rd level with the level 5 sphere. "Come out, Light End Dragon(2600/2100)." The angelic serpent dragon approached the dueling platform, floating upwards at the same pace.

"I knew you would do that! So I prepared a trap!" Facade flipped a card, Tuner Capture. "It does exactly what it says on the tin, Will. This trap will capture the Tuner you used for that Synchro!" From the graveyard Chaos End Master was pulled. He flew over to his fake brothers side. "Tsk. Dark End Dragon I presume?" He could not attack anymore. He placed two trap cards down instead. "You know me well too. Or rather who I pretend to be." The enemy started his turn and wasted no time. "I wont even need to use his effect to get it out. I summon this." He called out a skeletal archfiend, whose body was somewhat foggy. "Mist Archfiend. A level 5 monster that can be normal summoned without tributes." It would be destroyed in the endphase if summoned this way, but it would not live that long. "Synchro Summon." Chaos End and Mist were combined into his level 8 Synchro, the Dark End Dragon(2600/2100). "I saw this confrontation coming, the symbolism is rather nice." The Dragons mirrored each others positions.

"Let's see how prepared you are. I use the effect of Dark End Dragon!" He was about to sacrifice 500 attackpoints of his dragon to destroy Light End. "Trap card: Shadow Imprisoning Mirror!" But will used one of his traps, a mirror that sucked in the dark energy the Synchro was invoking. "Gheh. That card." It was a continuous trap that absorbed all effects of Dark-type monsters. His Synchro would be useless with it on the field. "Then I shall let you proceed." He passed the turn to the duelist. "..." He also wasted no time and charged straight at Dark End Dragon. "I sacrifice 500 attackpoints!" He too came close to using the effect, but found himself in an eerily similar situation. "Light Imprisoning Mirror!" Facade had used the opposite of Wills trap, a Mirror that negated effects of Light monsters. "I guess both monsters will have to die in battle!" The two were about to crash into each other. "I do not think so, I use Trap Stun!" His second trap was flipped, which petrified the opponents mirror. "!?" Light End Dragon powered down(2100/1600), weakening Dark End at the same time (1100/2100). The divine fire from destroyed the wicked dragon. "One step ahead.." He grunted as he took damage. "I will set two more cards and end my turn."

Facade's LP: 7000

"Nice. But Trap Stun only works for one turn." He said as his side of the platform began to crumble. "And the duel of light and darkness ends?" He drew a card and smiled unpleasantly. "I do not think so.. Recall this?" He showed the fiend Trap Eater(1900/1600). "I special summon Trap Eater, by destroying your trap." It ate the Mirror of Shadows. "Your trap can not block his effect, because its eating habits are a requirement rather than a skill." Then he summoned another level 4 monster, an Intercept Archfiend(1400/1600). Will did not know which dragon he would call out. "Synchro summon." The Tuner Eater was combined with the Interceptor, and from the light of the stars came the demon that had blasted him off the mountain before. "Red Dragon Archfiend(3000/2000)." With the Shadow Imprisoner gone, it could unleash all of its demonic powers. "But for now, I will settle with killing that divine pest." With a Light Mirror in place, Light End could not counter an attack. "Powerforce!" The demon dragon punched right through it. "So much for the dragons from your memory. This one I like the most anyway." But suddenly Will activated a trap. "Cosmic Blast!" And a huge blast engulfed the enemy and the platform. "What the?"

Facade's LP: 4400 Williams LP: 5300

_Cosmic Blast, Normal Trap  
__Activate only when a dragon-type synchro monster you control is removed from the field. Inflict damage to your opponent equal to its ATK. This turn, you cannot special summon._

More of the platform fell into the abyss below. "You.. you wanted me to kill it eh?" Facade suffered 2600 effect damage from that one trap alone. "But what will you do now? I do not remember any monster destruction cards in your deck." He laughed as he placed one trap card down. "There is one more monster." Carter waited for his turn to activate his last trap. "Hmm?" It was a card called Descending Lost Star. "This trap revives one dead Synchro; with its defense reduced, its level lowered by 1, and its effect negated." He of course ressurected Light End Dragon(2600/0). "No effect, what can it do then?" Facade was not impressed. "Nothing. It is just a stepping stone." Andre smiled as he summoned a new monster. "Hanewate? But that's.." It was cute winged watapon critter(200/300). ".. a tuner. Yes. I am going to Synchro Summon the monster that saved me before!" Hanewata the level 1 fairy was tuned together with the now level 7 Light End. "Come out, level 8 Dragon Synchro: Stardust Dragon!" And from the light came his savior.

The army, or what remained of it, chose to regroup at the original portal site. There Nero and company rejoined with Colin and Cleo, and also the Pharaoh. Most soldiers kept a close eye on Marcus, while Jackson was waiting for Cable to recover. "Okay. Let me get this straight." And the poor troops had some trouble understanding the concept of a Magus from another dimension bent on taking over the world. "This Ka-person. He was an enemy from your past?" Not to mention the fact that this kid was possessed with a millenium-old Pharaoh. "And he created these underlings to help him. But then you stopped him, and sealed him in another place." To all of these questions Raness merely nodded. "You'd think someone who had seen a one-eyed ten story tall demon emerging from the sea would be more open to things." Colin said under his breath. "Then can you tell us how you defeated them, because so far conventional weaponry seems to have no effect." The second-in-command would accept any shred of good news.

"It will not be easy to replicate that victory, as they seem to have created a steady opening between both worlds now. And I do not like to say this, but my memories are not all present. The moments leading to the downfall of Ka are incomplete." This was disappointing news to say the least. "These foes are not like people you have dueled before. They are not just mere demons or darklings, nor are they corrupted humans. The pillars of Ka are seemingly immortal, and their abilities translate into well beyond the limits of a normal game." He then put an object on the table, it was the lamp that Archon had left behind after he was destroyed. "You kept that?" Ceasar found it a bit dangerous looking. "You want to join your friends, or do you wanna stay quiet?" Cleo hissed. He chose the latter. "This I believe to be their medium. When Ka returned to this world, he summoned his servants with four other items." Christine gasped suddenly. "And that other guy, Zakaria. He had a medium too." In his case it was a small key.

"I can not say much about them, even in the past few knew how Ka made these creations. My missing memories might or might not know more. But the pillars seem to name themselves after the metal of their object." In this case, Archons lamp was made from silver. "But one of them had a compass, did they even invent something like that back then?" Colin did not know enough to be sure of that. "I believe the current tools to be recently remade, as we should have destroyed the original forms back in my time. At any rate, I do not intend to destroy this just yet." He placed both hands on the lamp. "What then?" Everyone took a step back just to be safe. "These things are a medium for Ka's underlings. If so, he might still be communicating with the ones we have already vanquished." He intended to intercept whatever Ka might have to say. "So be calm, I must focus."

He closed his eyes and allowed darkness to overtake his senses. His spirit seemed to leave the body, heading towards a boundless space. At first there was only static, nothing too confirm his theory. But he waited for a while longer, and his patience started receiving rewards. But they were not words, they were images. The void started growing in color, in vibrance. The more he looked around, the more he saw. Until all the images seemingly zoomed out. He saw the entire world before him; countries, oceans and mountains. And just when the force behind the interference reached its peak, he was slammed into the shadows by a strong pull. "Guaah!!" He snapped back into the real world, and shook his head, trying to shake off the headache. "What, what happened. Did you pick up something?" They had never seen Raness this unnerved.

"I saw.. I saw all the Millenium Items.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 055: Lonely Star of the Night)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Hanewata  
Stardust Dragon

-  
Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror  
_Cosmic Blast_ (+)  
Descending Lost Star

_(+) Based on a trap used by Yusei in episode YGO 5D_

**New Cards used by Facade/Andre  
**Mad Archfiend  
Mist Archfiend

-  
Tuner Capture  
Light-Imprisoning Mirror


	55. Lonely Star of the Night

**New Testament 055: ****Lonely Star of the Night**

Through the power of the Millenium Items, one could read into people's minds, predict their futures, or even control them do acts that went against their very nature. But normally such a power could only be used on one person at a time. **"You have finished, my creation.."** The scarlet servant known as Fatimah put down the Millenium Tauk. With her own ability she had amplified that items reach, and she saw the fates of all of mankind. "The Mercury Pillar is finished." But no one Millenium Item could influence the holder of another. And in the vast regions of the world, she had seen only two spots where nothing lied. "Then you can tell us how to find the remaining items: the Scales and Ring?" Asked Hieroglyph, and the woman nodded. "A part of the world belongs to the Items, this Items power te..tells us where to collect them." They now saw the same images, an illuminated world with only two blind spots. The Ring was somewhere in Germany, the other all the way back in Egypt. **"The Home Land." **Yet there was one more thing Fatimah had to say.

"Creat-or. Their ally struggled to track with me.. the Pharaoh.." Ka clanched his fist. **"The Lord Raness... He could see the same visions."** Hieroglyph was the first to realize how this was possible. "Creator. I believe he used Archons remnants. With it he could have picked up on the visions amplified by the hourglass." There was no telling how much power the puzzle actually held. **"That might be true. It matters not, there are ways to reach the Ring and Tauk before they do." **He looked at Hieroglyph. **"Renew the contacts created by 'Glyph' The ones closest to the the Ring will secure it and wait..." **Then his finger pointed at the Lead Pillar. **"And then use the Compass to pinpoint their exact coordinates. If any human gets in the way, or claims the item before you do.. exterminate them." **The bandaged one liked those orders. "It shall be done, Creator." She left the room immediately, flying into the outside world. **"The scales however lie in Egypt still. And there as well, we may find the gate itself..."**

...

Facade's LP: 4400 Williams LP: 5300

"Stardust.. Dragon?" That appeared to be the name of the sleek blue dragon(2500/2000) that was synchro summoned. "You want to face me with that dragon?" Facade however could only scoff at it, as his own Red Dragon(3000/2000) was clearly the superior. "There is more to this game than sheer power. You yourself should have realized that when we faced the shadows of the netherworld. If that even meant something.." He placed one trap card and ended his turn. "Oh I realize that. But only because my abilities have allowed me to avoid torment over the many centuries. And now that I have come this far, I will not hesitate to crush everything in my path." He did not care why or how Will called out the new Synchro, he could easily kill it. "My turn! I attack with the Dragon Archfiend!" His monster unleashed another hellish flare of energy. "Trap card! Power Frame." Yet this crimson fire could not make contact with Stardust, as a metallic cage surrounded it. "It negates your attack.." The battle phase ended.

"You already have to depend on the protection of traps?" Facade chuckled. "Not just that. Powerframe also strengthens the power of the one it protects." It was a continuous trap, the mechanical frames attached themselves to the blue spirit. "Now he gains attackpoints until he is your monsters equal" Stardust(3000/2000) roared at Red Archfiend with renewed vigor. "So they are. But what will you do? Unlike you, I do not mind sacrificing a card to take one of yours away. I have had so many monsters memorized that I do not even know which one I care about the least." Facade placed one spell facedown and ended his turn. "If you treat the spirits so trivially, then I will do the opposite. I shall beat you with this dragon!" He drew and equipped a card to his attacker. "Silver Wing!" Stardusts wings became bright and silvery. "What?" The enemy had seen that spell before too. "My highlevel Synchro can evade two deaths every turn. He will attack your dragon!" Since they had the same strength points, both could die. "I attack!"

Except the silver wings of Wills Synchro would keep it alive. "You will not succeed!" He activated a very familiar trap card: Prideful Roar. "Huh? But that is.." It was one of the Sentinels cards. "That is how it works, William. I learn and adapt, if I see a curse or a magic I like, I take it." The crimson dragon roared back at the Star dragon, and his attack was increased (3300/2000). "But Stardust still will not die!" The fire clashed with the silver wings, some embers burned more of Carters platform away. "Gh. I set a monster card and end my turn." He was running out of traps and spells to use. ".." Facade drew again. "Tsk." he too seemed displeased with his hand. "Let's see if I should regret this. I sacrifice my Light Imprisoning Mirror, for this spell card: Magic Planter." The white mirror was swallowed by the ground, releasing the skills and powers of the Light-elementals. "Then I can draw two new cards.." However what he picked from the deck appeared to be just as bad. "I set 2 more cards and end my turn."

Williams LP: 5000

But Will did not trust him, with three cards facedown anything was possible. "I summon a monster, Harvest the Angel of Wisdom(1800/1000). I also flip summon Honest(1100/1900)" He called out the fairy which one usually discarded from their hand. "Ghaha.. That card would have come in handy, but your Star is actually a wind-elemental. It's not like you to clash with your own theme like that." In any case, Honest could not combine itself with the Stardust Synchro. However.. "Here I go, I attack your monster again!" He expected to see any of three facedown cards flip face-up, yet nothing happened. "?" Red Dragon Archfiend was slain at last, that had gone almost too easy. "Then.. a direct attack?" He sent Harvest to fire a blast of light at the shadowy villain, and this one hit too. _"What are all those traps for then?" _However after he had attacked directly once, and before Honest could strike. "Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow!" The face of Andre wept blood, as the bloody Ogre appeared, imitating Harvests strength (1800/0).

Facade's LP: 2600

While Facade was losing more and more ground, he kept smirking. "Step one, the fodder." Honest could no longer attack. "I use Honests effect! I can return it to my hand." The fairy flew away from the platform. "Step two." He did not even wait for Will to declare the end of his turn. "The ritual." He flipped one of his traps; Nightmare Archfiends. "With this trap I can sacrifice my monster to put nightmare tokens on yours." The Ogre disappeared, and three ghostly fiends haunted the side of William. "Why would you do that?" They were however quite strong(2000/2000). "When such a token stops existing, its controller loses 800 lifepoints." He then flipped his second set card: Curse of Fiend. "Step three: The chaos!" The positions of all monsters on the field were changed, all of Andre´s monsters had to defend. "And now the final step!" He used his final trap, Archfiends Roar. "I pay 500 LP to resurrect one Archfiend in my cemetery, the demon that has the blood of dragons! Come out Red Dragon Archfiend!" The draconic hellhound had returned.

Facade's LP: 2100

Not-Andre placed a trap card. "I have not showed you this before, but now is the chance. Red Dragon Archfiends effect!" It created a fireball between its claws. "When it attacks, it will destroy all defending monsters!" It launched the attack directly at the Herald, sending it to the graveyard. "Draco Meteor!" The flames spread out, threatening to consume the tokens and Stardust. "Even if you can use Silver Wing to save one monster, the others will.." Yet Stardust was the one who disappeared. "Die?" And the three tokens remained on the field. "My Synchro has an effect too. Victim Sanctuary is its name, the dragon can release itself to save others from death by a card effect." The essence of the starry spirit then shot straight through the demon. "The one who dealt out that death will meet a swift end. And then in the endphase. My dragon will be reborn!" Stardust actually came back to his side. However now he had lost the silver feathers and the Power Frame boost(2500/2000). "As I said, my dragon will not die in vain."

He drew a card, and switched all his tokens to attack mode. "Yet that does not mean I will hit you with everything I have. You have one trap left, if it can save your wretched self.. now is the time to use it!" The nightmare phantoms and Stardust all swarmed around the identity stealer, ready to end his threat. "Do not get cocky, William. It does not suit you!" He flipped his trap, Wicked Rebirth. "Gah." It was the worst possible choice. Facade could pay 800 LP to revive one Synchro. "Red Dragon, ghaha.." Again the Archfiend had escaped the cemetery. "For someone with no attachments, you sure like summoning that one monster.." That however did not change the fact that none of his monsters could kill it. "I switch Stardust to defense mode, and end my turn." And he had left his tokens in attack too. But at least Wicked Rebirth prevented monsters from activating their effects. "What would you know?" He drew a card and summoned it. "Nothing!" It was a demonic looking sorcerer, The Archfiend Draco

Facade's LP: 1300

_Draco Archfiend, 4/1300/1600 Dark/Fiend  
__This card can not be special summoned. If this card is face-up on the field, you cannot use it for a synchro summon.  
__Once during the game you can special summon a lv2 or lower dragon-type monster from your deck for each dragon-type monster on your side of the field._

"With its effect I special summon the Dread Dragon from my deck." Next appeared a dreadlocked level 2 tuner(1100/400). "A tuner?" Was he going to summon a level 6 dragon? Yet the Draco Archfiend could not be used for a Synchro process. "I will finish you with something new, like you wished. Synchro summon; Dread Dragon and Red Dragon!" Instead he combined them for a level 10 monster, a threeheaded monstrocity. "Trident Dragion(3000/2800). When summoned, I can destroy 2 cards on my field." The two extra heads swallowed Wicked Rebirth and Draco. "And I can attack two extra times!" William gasped, he could kill all three Nightmare demons in one turn. And that was his intention. "Enough of you, your body is mine." A trio of flames shot towards the other field, all of the tokens were wiped out. "Aargggh." He took 800 effect damage and 1000 battle damage for each kill. Or so was the plan. "WHAT?" His lifepoints were not low enough. "I discarded a monster from my hand: Hanewata. It reduced all effect damage to zero."

Williams LP: 2000

It was the tuner used to summon Stardust, apparently he had two of them in his deck. "You continue to deny me. I deserve your body.." He ended his turn. "You deserve it?" Carter drew a card, his expression was grim. "You treated souls like dirt, you fooled me into thinking I had seen my brother after his unfair demise. You allowed a great terror to return to my world. What makes you think any of that is going to convince me to give up my body?!" Facade shrugged. "I do not have to care, you can not win anymore. Nothing in your deck will beat my ultimate spirit. You barely have any ground left to stand on." William stared him right in Andre's eyes. "Yes there is." he showed Honest again. "That? I already said it will not work, your savior is a wind-elemental!" Carter shook his head. "No. It can be more, remember this?" His last spell was one both players knew well. "Between the Dawn and Dusk?" But now the younger brother was using it. "You abandoned this when you stopped pretending to be related to me. Now I will use the card I intended to give to my brother." He activated it, turning Stardust into a Light-type. "No!" And it flew forward, charging right into the threeheaded Dragion, powered up by a discarded Honest (5500/2000).

Facade's LP: 0

The attack took away all of his lifepoints, his monsters. "You little.. you will never see your brother again. Every last one of you will die and return to this place anyway!" Facade cursed as all the tiles of his platform crumbled beneath his feet. "You will have changed nothing, treasure your memories for it is all that you will have soon!" He laughed out loud. "... You are wrong." On the other hand Will remained calm. "I have a sign that I will see my brother again. And everyone else who gave their life." He started to think of the Stardust Dragon that way, a sign from a better place. "And we will stop the Magus, and anyone else that threatens the world of Light. It is you who will only have memories to live on. I almost pity you.." He turned away. "You.." And the memory stealer finally fell to the depths below. "It is over.." The only thing left to do was to reach for the light in the ceiling. It finally seemed to be close by, as if the mountain cave had kept time and dueling separate. _"Here I come everyone. Here I.."_ A bright flash enveloped him as he made contact with the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Except he was returning to the land of the living. Yet when he awoke to a place that definitely felt less sickening and more solid..

_"Where am I?" _He looked around, this place was only vaguely familiar-looking. _"Wait, these are.."_ It was dark here, and cold. But he could recognize the people around him. _"The victims?"_ He saw the ones he had tried to save at the hospital, even the girl whose soul was not taken yet. _"This is Marcus's place!" _Now he knew where he had seen this before, this was the duel training area. But why was the power out? "Little boy awake?" A shiver ran down his spine, he was not alone. "Yes the younger brother." He saw someone in the distance, a crowned man with wings. "Now we will have to send him back all over again.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 056: One Ring to find Them)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**_Between the Dawn and Dusk_

-  
Power Frame

**New Cards used by Andre/Facade  
**_Draco Archfiend  
_Dread Dragon  
Trident Dragion

-  
Magic Planter

-  
Prideful Roar  
Nightmare Archfiends


	56. One Ring to find Them

**New Testament 056: One Ring to find Them**

"Jackson?" Cable opened his eyes, and saw his best friend sitting in the same room. "Where.. am I?" He realized he had been sleeping on a bed, at a place that definitely was not the studio. "You're safe here." Doe replied. "You were beaten, but the Pharaoh managed to hold them back while the troops pulled you out." He had only been out for a few hours. "How do you feel?" But he did not appear like a person who had fully recovered yet. "Been better.. I think I will live." His body hurt, his muscles were tense and he felt pretty tired. "Good.." Jackson looked at him, as if he was considering saying something else. "Let's just do it." He said in a different tone. "Is something wrong Jack?" His friend took a deep breath and pulled out a card from his dueldisk. "Cable.. do you remember making this card?" It was Yomotsu Shikome, the replacement Hermit. "Ehr.. yes?" Jacksons eyes widened. "What.. when did you.. why would you give this to us?" He suffered a sudden fit of anger, or rather one of his Personalities did. "You don't know?"

"Jack.. you asked me to make this card." He told him. "What?" Doe gasped. "We.. I.. do not remember that.." But he could tell that his friend was telling the truth. "When did this happen?" His memory could not just be hazy, not all twenty-one of them. "It was back when we were looking for information on the Magus. One night you approached me and asked me to make a replacement card for the part of your mind that was destroyed. You said you did not want to use Arahabaki anymore." At least not since Cadron killed that Persona. "You honestly do not remember?" Jackson shook his head. "No, we have no recollection of such an event. And yet, we must have.." He could only think of one reason that this happened. "Guys!" But just then Christine stormed into the tent. "What is it?" They asked worriedly. "It's Raness!" However she sounded more optimistic then concerned. "He did something weird with that Lamp of Archon, but he found it.. He found where the Millenium Ring and Scales are!" She ran outside again. "I must check this out then.."

Once he and the remaining troops had gathered around, Raness began to explain what he saw. He basically shared the visions of Fatimah, he witnessed which two areas on the world were unreadable by another Millenium Item. "Tsk, to amplify the Tauk to such an extent. Why did we not think of that?" Ceasar was impressed, these enemies thought outside the box. "And if we were to show you a map, could you point these spots out?" Nero asked him. "Yes, the pictures remain quite clear in my mind." He did not know much yet about modern geology, but he could already say that one of the two was still in his home country of Egypt. "That figures. There are probably a few tombs left that have not been opened up yet." Though that also meant; getting to that item would not be easy. "Why do we need to find these items again?" One soldier asked. "If the enemy gets his hands on all seven of them, he will be able to fulfill a scheme in the making for a thousand years. Your world will never be the same afterwards.." That was the reason.

Eventually he looked at the map and looked for the two coordinates. A big city in Germany was the closest he could pinpoint. "This still leaves a lot of ground to cover. But we might be able to use the Items we have to get a better look up close." Jackson realized he was also talking about The Key. "But.. this one is not ours anymore." He pulled it out. "We may physically own it, but one of Ka's servants claimed it in a shadowgame." And they could never get it to work for them before that anyway, at best they could replicate the strange energy source within. "I see. Then we should also gather intelligence. But we need to head for those areas fast. It is already night-time, so the enemy can travell the skies freely." The commander nodded. "Then it is a good thing our fastest jetplanes exceed their kind of speed. Though we might need to contact the local government before we can search through that city." And they did not have time to wait for that. "Just send us." Cleo snapped. "We dont need permission, we are just tourists." She had a point there.

So they went with that plan. They used one of their jets to send Raness and his friends, save for Doe, overseas. Meanwhile a section of the army would head for Egypt. Both groups maintained contact throughout the journey. At the same time the wounded had to remain at the camp and while not that injured, Marcus was held under close supervision. _"It can not end like this." _The latter however did manage to find a way to smuggle a cellphone into his quarters._ "It's about time my friend responds to my favors." _He had sent several messages out already, but this time he received an answer. _"Like this one.."_

A few hours later the jet approached the airport closest to the city. "Huh. I see no mass devastation or soulless bodies, so I think we are in the clear." Colin said as he looked out the windows. "But if we do run into trouble, do we let him duel the enemy again?" He referred to Raness, he would not mind letting him take on all the Pillars. "Ehr.. Colin. That's Elias. He came back while you took a nap." Christine explained. Sairve looked back at him and saw a most upset expression on the students face. "What? Nobody told me!" He could not help it that there was no clear sign when who was using that one body. "So wait, he knows what we are doing?" He could believe it if Gaines had reservations. "They told me, yes. And though these periodic blackouts are not something I want to get used to, I understand that it is a necessary evil." As odd as the whole setup was. "But I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake. I am doing this for the children at the orphanage, and other innocents. They do not deserve to be a part of this chaos."

Some time later, they had managed to get from the airport into the alleged city. "So now what?" Under an escort of trained soldiers, in streeth clothes, they walked through the streets. "Since the Millenium Ring or Scales should be considered a valuable treasure, we can assume they are either at the nearest museum or at the mansion of a rich noble." Though they did not think they would find something like that in a modern place like this. "Did the Pharaoh not say more before he left?" His host himself wondered. "He could not see the exact place. If Raness senses something though.." Nero did not need to finish his sentence. Elias could guess. "He will just move back in." He did not really like that. Generally whenever that happened, something bad would go down. "We can check with local authorities if they know something."

...

"Man" But after an hour of searching they had come no closer, no museum or warehouse reported what could have been an item. "At this pace any one of those Pillars could show up, coming from the sky or lord knows where. At least they will have a hard time looking for it too." Though they would like to avoid contact with the enemy for the time being. "Wait a second." Nero stopped, as he saw a flyer on a building wall. "This says there is an auction held today, with a 'gold' theme." That looked promising. "Actually we checked that, it did not pan out. They did not mention anything about a scale or ring on the auction list." The soldier shook his head. Nero cringed. "Aargh, we should have described it better. The Millenium Ring could be one of the prices, because it does not actually look like a ring!" He yelled. "Oh crap,. that's true."

With that small hope, they all headed for the building where the auction would take place. Or rather it was already underway. "Great, if we have to end up paying for the damn thing. Which one of us is richest here?" Cleo asked as they walked into the scene. "Ceasar perhaps?" She looked at him. "I wish." However they soon found out it did not matter anyway. "Oh blast it. It's for invites only.." It was a sealed-bid acution, all they could do was watch from the sidelines. "How do we even know if it has not been sold yet already?" Christine was worried they had come too later. But then.. "There it is!" She said excitedly. Everyone but Elias and Ceasar recognized it instantly, and even they realized how much it looked like his own Puzzle. The pyramid pendant, the eye of Wadjet, the golden circle, it all fit the Egyptian theme. "Okay, so we have to keep an eye on whoever buys it. And ehrm.. hope we can pay him off afterwards.. we get government funding for this, dont we?" Colin asked one of their escorts. "Tsk. I will have to contact my superiors."

In the end a gentleman named Anton Hartmann had made the highest offer, so he got to take the Ring home. Unfortunately it was not that easy to approach him as he was surrounded by bodyguards. "What? Is he like a minister or something?" How would they ask an important person like that. "We will just have to arrange a meeting. We can ask the people who work here for information on mr. Hartmann. It is unlikely that the enemy will locate him before we can talk to him." Yet that soldier must have been tempting fate once too often, as a loud noise sounded outside the building just after Anton and his men had passed the exit. "What the?" They ran outside, and saw that the two bodyguards had been knocked unconscious. "He is gone!" The man himself was nowhere to be seen. "Was it one of Ka's servants?"

"Did anyone see what happened?" Nero asked some of the pedestrians, forgetting that he naturally did not speak a word of German. They were loud and upset though. "They are saying stuff like 'attacker', 'mask' and 'thief'" Elias had not practised since high school, but he could understand some of it. Luckily one of the panicked individuals understood enough to point to a small alley next to the auction house. "Thanks!" He took this as a direction, one which the mysterious attacker must have taken. "Not in the air then?" That meant they still had a chance. "Let's go!" Colin and one soldier decided to stay with the knocked out guards. The others headed into the alley. However they came across a threeway split, their path went up while another path crossed the first from right to left. "We have to split up." Nero said. "I will take the right with Cleo. Ceasar you stay with the soldier and go straight forward, Elias and Christine you take the left road." They all nodded and went on their way._ "I have no idea what will happen now.."_

The mysterious attacker was close by, at the end of one path near the city park. "Say it." 'She' held the german against a tree. The face was masked, but the voice was clearly female. "Say that you give that thing to me, that it is mine. And you will live.." The woman snarled with a heavy tone. Anton replied in his own language, frantically. "Psh... Sagen Sie ' der Ring ist für ihr'. Und Sie leben." The attacker shifted to a more broken german, but Hartmann got the gist of it. "Aber.. aber.." He did not want to give it up, not until his fear won over his other feelings. "Der Ring is für ihr." He told the woman what she wanted to hear. "Danke.." She said coldly and tossed him to the ground, knocking him out in one blow as well. She then picked up the Golden ring that lied next to her feet. She could have taken it before, but only now was it truly hers. "Hey!" But the time it took to get the man to forfeit the item, was the same time it took Cleo and Nero to find the thief. "What are you doing?" Cleo asked her. "Why is more like it.." Then the woman took off the mask. Yet she did not look like any of the pillars or anyone else they knew, just a regular girl in a regular coat with an irregular ring. "Cleo Caine.." And she surprised them both. "Nero Jacobus Sullivan."

This one knew both their names, their full names even. "I did not expect to see you here." They backed away, sensing an eerie vibe. "How do you know us?" Was their new question. "How do I know you? That can easily be answered.. you are a part of Glyph's memories." Their eyes widened with realization. "You.." This girl was not in a normal state of mind. "The Rod." She was being controlled from a distance. "You must be the new Glyph Raness told us about." They only knew one person who would use the Millenium Rod this way. "Ah. You are quick on the uptake. But you are only half-right." She paused to put the string attached to the Millenium Ring around her neck. "I am not the Glyph, I am merely a back-up reactivated in this girls body.. and I am waiting." She looked at the sky. "Soon one of Ka's servants will find me in this area. Until then I shall be this Items official owner. It took a while to find this.. but _he_ always knew an auction would pay off one day. And now it is finally free from all those money-loving nobodies.."

They did not know what to make of this, they only wanted to get him away from the Ring. "Official owner? I suppose that means we can't just take it back.." The possessed woman nodded. "Then we will have to duel you for it." They said, but Cleo had activated her dueldisk first. "I will handle this Nero, you stay back." She was not about to let anything related to Glyph go unchallenged. "We went through hell just to get Glyph out of our heads, and now he is back again. Fine. But I sure as hell will not let a mere backup get away with that thing. I will duel you for the right of The Ring!" But before she could ask if he even had cards with him in this form, she/he pulled out a disk of her own. "This girl, little miss Renate, was already a duelist when the original Glyph used the Rod on her two years ago. All I had to do was visit her house and pick up her old stuff." Cleo grinned. "Good. I was hoping you'd accept." They both inserted their decks. "Cleo are you sure?" Nero still had reservations. "It's the only way Nero. I will finish Glyph, one piece at a time!"

Cleo's LP: 8000 Renate's LP: 8000

(To be Continued in New Testament 057: Ashes with Ashes)


	57. Ashes with Ashes

**New Testament 057: Ashes with Ashes**

"Found anything?" The other two pairs reconvened at the cross in the path. "No luck." Neither had been able to track down the thief or sir Anton, they reached a point where they knew they had to give up and head back. "I knew it. This was all hopeless, we should not even have come here..." Ceasar sulked and sat down against a wall. "Nobody asked you to come with us in the first place." Colin said . Though he shared his fears at this point. "We have to assume we lost him then. If the Pharaoh is not..wait.." Elias looked to his right. "Whe are missing someone aren't we? Were are Caine and Jacobus?"

Renate's LP: 8000 Cleo's LP: 8000

Cleo and Nero were at the park not that far away. And she had challenged the 'thief' to a duel, to reclaim the Millenium Ring. "Glyph?" The woman was named Renate, but it was not she that spoke. "The only part of him that is left is me. And I am but a wavering echo." The possessed one drew five cards, she would go second. "Nopthing but a slave eh?" Cleo smirked, and gladly took the first turn. "Then how come this guy 'Hieroglyph' exists? What is he?" She placed one monster card facedown and activated the field spell, Mystic Plasma Zone. "The father and the son, the cycle of all his memories. Nothing less.."

Renate entered her turn, she activated the spell, Call of the Mummy. "That card.. she is using a Zombie deck?" Nero recognized it, but so did the goth. "Yeah I know. I use that spell too." She could special summon an undead from her hand if no monsters were on her field. "Burning Skull Head." And with it the woman called out a skull(1000/800) that was, as the title said, burning. "Whoa what the.." And before she knew it, the it shot out a beam of fire. "When special summoned from the hand, the Skull Head burns the opponent for a thousand points." And while Caine still reeled from the blast, Renate used her normal summon for the turn. "Goblin Zombie." It was the swordwielding skeleton(1100/1050), whose stats were altered (1600/650) due to the Mystic field spell. "Thanks, Miracle Worker." She entered her battle phase. _"What?"_ Cleo twitched; she was using 'that nickname' again. "No thank you!" But what Goblin Zombie slew was a face-down Pyramid Turtle(1600/1000). "Now I can special summon a Zombie with 2000 or less defense!.."

Cleo's LP: 7000

She called out the demon of dragon bones, Ryu Kokki(2900/1600). "Hmm. End turn." Renate did not place a trap down, and she liked to see it that way. "No need to be careful." She winked at a still concerned-looking Nero. "I summon Double Coston(2200/1250)." Both of her monsters were dark-types, so they too had gained a powerboost from Mystic Plasma Zone. "And now for a double attack!" Kokki crushed the Goblin Zombie with its skeletal hand, while the Dual ghosts shattered the Skull with ectoplasmic energy. "But when Goblin Zombie dies.. I can add another Zombie to my hand!" At least if its defense was lower than 1000. "Another!" Renate laughed as she added a second Burning Skullhead to her hand. "Gah..so that's his theme. Undead burn." Cleo grumbled and placed one trap down. "Well then give it to me."

Renate's LP: 5500

She passed the turn to the enemy, who wasted no time. With Call of the Mummy the second Skull was summoned. In defense mode this time. "Grrr." It too burned Cleo for a thousand points. "Heh, set monster end turn." And that's all she did. "Is that all this girl you possessed can do?" She asked as she entered her main phase. "It will be enough to hold you at bay, deary." The girl said with a happy tone, which contrasted with her dull expression. "Damn it, I do not like dueling people like this." She sacrificed Double Coston for Despair from the Dark(3300/2600). It was a level eight fiend, but Double Coston counted for two when sacrificed for a dark-type creature. "I can not hate them enough.. you know this." Both her zombies launched another attack. One killed the Skull Head, the other Renate's facedown. "Oh no." But to Nero's dismay, she had set a Pyramid Turtle as well. "But maybe you can hate me when I say this. Before you, this girl was 'his' favorite." The Turtle special summoned a zombie to his/her field. "And I guess, now she is again.."

Cleo's LP: 6000

But the monster called out was a zombie neither Jacobus or Caine had seen before, a shaman-like fire zombie with (2600/2000). "Skull Flame." Cleo could do nothing else this turn, so she ended it. "Just watch, Miracle Worker. Watch how her deck flows.." Skull Flame's effect activated during the draw phase already. "Instead of drawing, I can take a Burning Skull out of the graveyard." Which was what she did, the third Skull was in her grasp. "And also, Skull Flame can special summon any Skullhead in my hand." So even without using Call of the Mummy, the Skull could appear to burn Cleo even more. "Ugh. You seem to know only one trick now, backup." She was not impressed. "Oh I concur. It is time for a new act, as he would say." He revealed another monster in his hand. "This is Kasha, the Fire Wagon zombie. This I can special summon from my hand by returning all undead back to the deck.. mine.. and yours." She gasped. That would leave her defenseless. "And it gains a thousand attackpoints for each returned zombie." Nero did the math quickly. If he summoned that and another weak zombie, the goth duelist would lose all lifepoints. "Cleo!" he tried to warn her. "Here it come.." But Kasha was already being summoned. "And.. ?"

Cleo's LP: 5000

Renate sounded surprised. "It's." It went off without a hitch, the Flaming carriage appeared, and other monsters were sent back into their decks. Yet its attack was not four thousand, it was not even raised a bit(0/0). "Heh. Before you summoned it, I used this." Cleo revealed her quickplay spell, Book of Eclipse. "This switches all monsters face-down. That means that even though Kasha returned all zombies to the deck, none were face-up at the time. So it can not again any attackpoints." Nero too was shocked. "You do not need to tell, Nero. I know what I am doing." The woman recovered from her stunned silence. "Amazing. That you'd find such a loophole. Very well. I may have underestimated you. However this deck is not that easy to bring down." She could still normal summon. "Come out Shutendoji." This time a blonde Oni-demon(1500/800) appeared, holding a gord filled with rice wine in its claws. "Direct attack" This together with Kasha would have given Cleo the fatal blow, now only it could attack. "Keep your praises to yourself..."

Cleo's LP: 3500

But there was more to the Oni. "This undead fiend can remove two zombies in my grave, to let me draw 1 more card." Two spirits entered the sake bottle; Pyramid Turtle and Goblin Zombie. "I end my turn." The girl in the coat waited for the Miracle Worker to attack, she could guess which monster would die next. "Hmph." Cleo summoned a powered-up Gil Garth(2300/800). "But I see you latch on to some parts of the old. You are still using Normal monsters. Tsk tsk." She shook her head. "Shut up. I do not need overpowered cards to beat you! Now eat this!" Her monster jumped on top of the Kasha cart, and imbedded the sword into its flaming wheels. The wagon spun out of control and exploded in a hail of fire. "I don't care what he or you think about me. I just want to have that Ring!" She placed a trap card and ended her turn.

Renate's LP: 3200

"Ah so that's it. That is what it is all about eh?" Renate smirked, showing her nastiest expression yet. "You want 'the ring'. The one they took from you, the one that made you special. But this one is not the same..is it?" She caressed the Millenium Ring. "No, that's not what I meant.." Cleo clenched her fist. "I want to stop your master from getting it, do not twist my words!" The possessed girl let the item go. "If that is what you believe." She activated the spell, Foolish Burial. She chose to send Skull Flame from the deck into the cemetery. "But you know that, without that ring, you are just an average duelist with an odd card selection." He normal summoned another Burning Skull Head from his hand. It was the third one that she had not yet drawn. "Don't listen to him Cleo. You are better than whatever he says!" Nero shouted over his/her taunts. "You helped me defeat the Creeds, you destroyed Jacob with Rose." He knew she did not need a magic ring to win. "How cute, he is standing up for you.. but.. you know he is wrong."

"Those duels were nothing, she was with others! Alone you are no miracle at all!" She sudenly removed the Skull Flame from her cemetery. "I can special summon this monster: Supersonic Skull Flame, by removing the regular version!" Out came a fiery necromancer with four horse legs, like a centaur from hell(2600/2000). "Once per turn, it does damage to my prey. 400 points for each dead Skullhead." Specters of the Burning skulls appeared, and flew straight through the goth. "Uhnn." She lost 800 lifepoints. "And then all my monsters will ravage your field!" The Speed demon struck first, flattening Gil Garth under its boney hooves. "Ggh. You have another thing coming, if you think I will let you break my spirit again!" She however flipped her trap, Michizure. It destroyed Shutendoji as payback for the death of the Scimitar fiend. "So very passionate, maybe that was why he went after you as well. But in the end, he only care about the thing you lost.." The Skullhead hit her directly. "He only cared about power..and death.."

Cleo's LP: 1400

"Yes, and look where that got him. All that trouble to make the puzzle, to enter the Memory World. And now he is nothing more than a corpse for someone else to use." And yet she'd still rather face Hieroglyph directly. "Such words are lost on me... I activate the second effect of Burning Skull Head." Abruptly the Skull imploded. "It can be removed from play to unremove one Skull Flame." The fire shot into the ground, and returned Skull Flame to physical depths. _"Why would he do that?"_ Nero wondered. Until he read the full text of the Supersonic card. "Oh no." He also saw a card in Cleo's hand. "Draw!" She added an effect monster to her hand, but she soon discarded it. "Enough of you, and your monsters!" Because she had activated Tribute to the Doomed, a destruction spell that required a discard. "Cleo, don't!" Nero's warning came too late, the Speed King was mummified. "Heh. Gotcha." Yet something took its place. "!?" For when Supersonic Flame was destroyed, it could special summon the normal Flame (2600/200).

"Heh. Your anger was always a problem, Cleo Caine. Now do you see how strong Glyphs regular favorites are?" In the next turn, Skull Flame could take back the last Skullhead in the cemetery, and summon it to do another 1000 damage. That was his/her plan at least. "You speak about her like she is just a toy." She called out her last card; a powered-up Kuriboh(800/0). "Heh, so? And what do you plan with that little fuzzball?" It was better off staying in her hand. "This will kill you." She chuckled. "Ha! Good one!" Of course Renate had a hard time taking that serious. "Joke while you can. You wont exist for much longer.. I activate Mezuki's effect!" She removed a monster from her graveyard. "Mezuki?" It had only hit the grave this turn, when she discarded it for the Doomed spell. "When a Mezuki is removed from its coffin, another undead comes back. I revive Pyramid Turtle(1900/1000)!" Before the villain could figure things out, she entered her battle phase. "?!" And the Turtle killed itself by slamming into the stronger Skull Flame.

Cleo's LP: 200

Nero wanted to ask her what she was doing, but by now he felt that she did have a plan. "When the Turtle is killed, I can special summon a zombie remember?" She took a card from her hand. "Like this one:"Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon." Out of the deck came a decaying version of the infamous Red-Eyes(2400/2000). It too was powered up by the Plasma Zone (2900/1600). "Its effect is this: when it kills the living dead. They become my minions! So go!!" The zombified dragon unleashed a necrotic blast that consumed Skull Flame whole. Its corpse than regenerated on her side of the field(2600/2000). "No!" It could attack him as well! "Glyph, or whatever you think you are, you know what is dead and what is not. You do not deserve that Ring, even less than I do." Skull Flame struck first, hitting his own duelist with unholy flames. "So I really hope you are the last piece of that bastard that keeps going after girls and what not. Because this world has gotten tired of you, long ago!" And Kuriboh finished the game by biting the girl in the leg.

Renate's LP: 0

"Gaahh!!!" Renate screamed out loud, as an evil entity was expelled from her body. The process was painful enough to send her into a state of unconsciousness, similar to the fate Anton Hartmann had received. "..It's over." She took a breath of relief at last, the dueling holograms faded. "And yet I had to use this card." She looked at Red-Eyes. It was a card recommended to her by Marcus himself, and she hated having to take tips from him. "Cleo, you did it." Nero was happy for her, that she pulled through. "You doubted me, didn't you?" He shook his head to deny it, but did not believe it. "That's okay. I did too. But now.." The goth took the Ring from Renate's neck. "This is mine, is it not?" She saw his reaction and smiled. "Heh. Relax, I am not that girl anymore. Anyway.." She nudged the girl softly to see if she was moving. "These two may need some medical attention." She also hoped Anton would not ask to get the Ring back once he woke up. "But at least we got this before any real troublemaker showed up."

Little did they know, that the Lead Pillar was already heading their way, flying closer and closer. And this one could tell exactly where the Ring was...

(To be Continued in New Testament 058: The Sword's false Edge)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Mezuki  
Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon

-  
Book of Eclipse

**Cards used by Renate/Glyph  
**Burning Skull Head  
Goblin Zombie  
Pyramid Turtle  
Skull Flame  
Kasha (Fire Wagon)  
Shutendoji  
Supersonic Skull Flame

-  
Call of the Mummy  
Foolish Burial


	58. The Sword's false Edge

**New Testament 058: The Sword's false Edge**

It was in the end fortunate that nobody had seen Cleo duel the possessed girl in the park, and that the police took so long before they arrived. With a little help from 'witnesses' like Cleo and Nero, a story was strung together for the sake of mr. Hartmann and the city officials. They were the first to arrive on the scene and helped him wake up, which was true. They also were too late to stop the theft, which was false. "So he believes the ring was taken by an unknown assailant, who knocked him out and stole the ring he won from the auction." Christine and the others were later filled in, in the event of them being brought up for additional questioning. "Even though.. we have it right here." Luckily it never came to that, and they could drive out of town the very next hour. "Anton will be fine. He probably got insurance or something." Colin shrugged, it was not their problem anymore. "We should have payed." Others like Elias had objections. "But since the world is at stake....." They could just as well return it to him after all was said and done.

"And what about the girl, Renate?" Ceasar was more concerned with yet another one of Glyphs many victims. "She will also recover soon. And have no memories of the possession. That's how it works." Cleo would know from experience. "A good thing she had a mask on, otherwise she would have a lot to explain for.. without knowing what she had done." While Anton had been KO'd, the duelists regrouped and took Renate away from the crime scene. "We got her administered at the local hospital, but the doctors think it is just a spell of exhaustion." One trooper explained. "I see..she will wake up and only have to worry about not knowing the identities of the ones that rescued her from a dreaded fainting attack." Ceasar liked that story. "But we have what we came for. It is time to return to the airport and find out what has been going on back in England." And enough time had passed for the other team to have reached Egypt as well. They would have to communicate with them as well. "But them having found the Scales already is unlikely."

At any rate, only that Item remained to be found. They could at least tell them that, so they would know what to look for. "So... this is the Ring. The actual ring.." Cleo held it in her hands. "Looks like it. That sure as hell is not fake gold." Colin was so awed that he tried to touch it every odd second. "But what does it do?" Elias did not know as much as the rest of the duelists. "This Item has two apparent powers; to find other items or sources of dark magic and to put parts of people's minds into other people or objects." The latter power Cable had apparently learned about through ancient records. "Not something one can use to win in a game then." Cleo said to herself. Though she already expected as much. "That sounds more like an evil power to me." Christine could not imagine a good person sealing a soul into an object, or wanting to be sealed.

"All the more reason to not let the enemy have it. We can not use such a power against them, even if we wanted too. But they probably won hesitate to use it on us.. or on innocents.."

Then there was the divinging rod-like ability, which would be very helpful for anyone searching for say, the Scales. "Right now however, it points only to your Puzzle, Elias. It's range must be very limited.." Then again it would only help in Egypt, as they already knew where the Eye, Tauk and Rod were. "On the other hand, if they get it.. They will know where we have hidden the Key. They found the Ring because it was being owned by the auctioneer at the time, but to find an item away from its owner.. they need this." It was therefor imperative to make it back to the jet before anyone of Ka's side made it here. "Uhm guys." Unfortunately the road back was not as uneventful as the trip towards the german city. "Tell me that is not a man flying through the skies like a bullet..." Sairve saw him first, a black dot on the cloudy heavens. "Gah." Elias received another dose of headpains. "It must be..yes... I recognize him." He had sensed its dark aura before. "Tin Pillar, the bandaged assailant.." Ceasar flinched. "Bandaged you said?"

However all that information did not prepare them for what came next, a wave of colorless energy travelled towards them. "Look out!" The soldier could steer away just in time, as the wave cut the road. "Damn it. We took the rouric scene to avoid attention, how did he find us here?" More waves came, which broke open the ground around them. "Stop!" They were unable to continue, the car could not go over the fissures. Seeing as how they were trapped now, the enemy took his time to fly down. "Crap, crap, crap. What do we do?" They could not drive away, and they certainly could not outrun a speedster like that on foot. "Tsk." Elias stepped out of the car. "What do you want?" He asked, while hoping the Pharaoh would take this time to resurface. At least before the enemy had touched the ground. "The Ring.. you have it." The enemy said, with a voice that was feminine yet heavy. "The seed failed. One of you owns it now." He or she took out a compass. "!?" One look was taken at it. "The one who defeated the seed... Cleo Caine.."

The others in the car heard and saw this. "He used that thing to track us down?" Nero did not expect them to have a Millenium Ring-equivalent. "... That one." Ceasar whispered and suddenly turned to the goth duelist. "Cleo Caine. I have a plan." She pulled back. "What? You!? Why should I listen to you?" He was about the least trustable person here, in her opinion. "There is no time to explain. Just go with me on this." He said in rapid pace. "Say you will give me the Millenium Ring. Say to me that I own it. Even better.. duel me for it, and immediately forfeit." She did not understand any of that at all. "What are you talking about, why would I give this to you?" Cleo was not going to give it to him, or anyone else. "No. Do not give it to me.. Just say that you will. That guy is after whoever owns the item, not after the item itself!" And while he tried to make it as clear as possible what his plan was, outside the Tin Pillar finally landed on the ground. But the compass quickly reacted to whatever was going on inside the car. "What is this?"

Then out came everyone, Cleo Caine still had the Ring around her neck. "What did you do?" Elias asked, as they must have done something to get the enemy to act this way. "The ownership shifted." The compass no longer pointed at Cleo or her golden object, it pointed at Ceasar. "You.. she gave the Ring to you." Ceasar smiled now. "She did indeed, and I beat her in a duel in record time." He laughed. Normally Cleo would have throttled him for that. But now was not the time. "That means you will have to duel me for it. Just like how Cable had to be dueled before any of you could lay a hand on any Millenium Key." Or so he heard from Marcus. "What good will that do? What if you lose?" Christine did not think they could beat this one. "I am glad that you care about me. But I have to do this. The rest of you run away while you can, the airport is not that far from here." They got it now, he was trying to stall for time. "Distracting him, while the actual item escapes. At least this way you no longer have to wonder why I stick with you.."

"Let's not waste time to argue against the man. Come on!" Colin fled first, Cleo followed him after giving Ceasar a confused look. "If you win, contact us. We will be back" Nero said, before he and the soldiers took off as well. "You aren't doing this for your own sake, are you?" Rose asked him. He shook his head, but did not answer either. "Let's go.." Elias and she were the last to leave the scene. Now it was just him and the immortal foe. "You will sacrifice yourself, but it will only delay us for an insignificant amount of time." He or she wondered the same thing about Ceasars sudden and selfless determination. And due to the rules of the Millenium items, he or she was bound to finish this duel. "You were the one that took Critias, werent you? You dueled Lydia.." The androgynous one merely nodded, he was right. "Good. Then I can at least so I did this for her.. " He activated his dueldisk. "But before this begins, can I at least get a name from you?" Lydia was never given one. "Your last request shall receive a response.. I am.. Thryall."

Thryalls LP: 8000 Ceasars LP: 8000

"Even that tells me so little." He could not even tell the gender this way. To make it easier on himself, he would just see him as a male. "It will do. I take the first turn!" He drew his cards. _"Okay. Now it is time to think to what she said to me before.. Aside from the various insults." _He recalled a conversation he had with Lydia and Madlyn last night. _"This guy.. or gal.. uses a monster that reflects damage. But it requires two tributes. I just have to stop him from getting that many sacrifices." _He felt ready. "Here it comes, I set one trap card. Then I summon the XX-Saber Fulhelm Knight." Out came a monster who actually wore no helmet at all, but he had armor and a electrically charged segment-whip(1300/1000). "Once per turn this monster can negate an attack made against it." Ceasar explained before he ended his turn. This monster would buy him enough time for the Synchro summons of the next turn. "And yet.. mindless attacks are all this field shall know about for the rest of this shadowgame..and the pain of nightmares.."

A field spell was activated. "The Savage Colosseum.." Right away the two were surrounded by high stone walls, pillars and arches. It was a roman-style fighting stage, one that radiated a lust for blood. "Now, all monsters must attack when able. If they did not attack, they shall die. You can either hide.." Thryall said as he or she set down a monster card, which was not affected by the field spell. ".. or you can charge into enemy lines. Not knowing what traps wait for you." Then two trap cards were placed facedown and the enemy's turn ended. "I see." He figured that this was a way for him to draw in attacks on the damage reflecting card. "But it has not hit the field yet... My turn!" He activated the spell card Reinforcement of the Army, adding a warrior. "I summon a level 2 warrior: Sasuke Samurai (500/800). I combine it with the level 3 Fulhelm, who happens to be a tuner. Now I synchro summon a level 5 monster!" The five stars of the X-sabers came together to form one a cowboy-like warrior(2100/400). "This is X-Saber Wayne. When Synchro summoned, I can special summon one X-Saber from my hand." Another warrior appeared, the reptilian X-Saber with a mask: Galahad(1800/800). "The show is just beginning!"

When two X-Sabers exist on my field, I can special summon this card: XX-Saber Faultroll." His fourth saber of the turn was a more futuristic swordsman, in red neon armor(2400/1800). "This one can summon something too. Once per turn I revive a level 4 or lower X-Saber." He used that effect to revive Fullhelm Knight. "Second Synchro summon!" He combined the level 6 Faultroll with the revived tuner as soon as possible. "I special summon the level 9 Synchro: XX-Saber Gottoms." His final monster was the heavily white-plated general of the Sabers: Gottoms(3100/2600). He had a lot of attackpower now, his plan was to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. "Trap card: An Unfortunate Report." Yet Thryall did not fear this. In fact he played a trap that gave an opposing player an extra battle phase. "Feh.." He then equipped Gottoms with a new sword, the Sword of Sparkles. It was big but seemed to give no actual powerboost. "This is a trap, but I was the one that challenged you... So I can not hold back!" Gottoms was immediately upon the set card, slicing it in half. "The Mystic Tomato?" But he had killed the plant which special summoned a dark monster with 1500 attack or less. "Then you will call it." And 'that' monster had 1500 beneath 1500.

Ceasars LP: 8300

Out it came, the halfmale/halffemale fiend(0/0). "Obvious. Due to the Colosseum I must attack. Even if I gain 300 LP each attack, like he did just now, the damage he would get in return would kill him. "But.. I was prepared for this! The Sword of Sparkles activates now!" Suddenly the big saber sparked with electricity, and it electrocuted Yubel itself. "Heh. When the equipped monster kills something, the equipment will kill something too. That is the spells power!" The lightning shocked the fiend until she/he died in a display of smoke of thunder. "Now you are wide open for two more.. no five more attacks!" He was certain he would win... until something came out of the smoke. "No way.." Something bigger than Yubel. "Terror Incarnate." Thryall spoke its name, the name of Yubels second form. "When Yubel dies, it evolves. You have awakened a transformation." From the deck came a twoheaded demonic dragon(0/0), with the same powers as the first. "That means.." All the next five attacks would hurt him, not the enemy. "You lose.."

Elsewhere the jetplane finally took off. They had made it to the airport after ten minutes of running, but they could not go back for Ceasar. "I did not think he had that in him.." Colin could almost admire Marcus's former protege. "Maybe he can win.." Nero hoped for the best, but was not very optimistic. "He did what he had to.. he.." Elias wanted to say his piece, but was interrupted by something. "What is it? Is Raness returning?" He shook his head. "No, Cleo.. look at.." He instead pointed at the goths Item, the Ring. "What the hell?" It started glowing on its own. "Something is happening, something is.. inside?"

(To be Continued in New Testament 059: Et tu, Brute?)

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**XX-Saber Fullhelm Knight  
Sasuke Samurai  
X-Saber Wayne  
X-Saber Galahad  
XX-Saber Faultroll  
XX-Saber Gottoms

-  
Reinforcement of the Army  
Sparkling Blade

**New Cards used by 'The Tin Pillar' Thryall  
**Mystic Tomato  
Yubel - Terror Incarnate

-  
Savage Colosseum

-  
An Unfortunate Report


	59. Et tu, Brute?

**New Testament 059: Et tu, Brute**

Last Night...

"For the last time, it was not my fault that you were too slow." Lydia yelled from her bed. "I abandoned you for the sake of Marcus's mission. You would have done the same." She was apparently berating Ceasar who had come to visit the girls in their tent. "It is not about that Lydia. I dont mind.. I just wish.. I could have gone with you." He sulked. "That way, maybe I could have helped when they came.. You were hurt because of that one with the bandages.." Blackstone narrowed her eyes. "Oh I know where this is going. But forget it, you will not even lay a hand on these people." She hissed. "If you want to die while taking revenge, you can do it for Halliday's sake or lord knows who.." She understood that Ceasar felt guilty and wanted to make up for it. But his obession with her was just annoying. "Oh he does not have to. The one that dueled me just put me to sleep after she won.." Said Madlyn calmly. She almost felt envious of Lydia, but only because of the pain she had experienced. "But I.." Ceasar wanted to say more. "No. This conversation has ended.. If you are half as smart as Marcus thought you were, you will stay away from those people."

Ceasars LP: 8300 Thryalls LP: 8000

Those were the words Ceasar remembered, and yet here he was in a game with the one that had hurt Lydia. He thought he had destroyed Yubel, instead he made it stronger. "Perhaps my feelings did get the best of me." And he was about to be killed by the demons effect, if all his attacks hit it, he would take 11700 damage. "Trap card: Gottoms Spy! This card will give one of my X-Sabers to the enemy!" He sent X-Saber Galahad(1800/800) over to the other side of the road. "Now I have to attack due to Savage Colosseum. But now I can attack it instead of Terror Incarnate!" X-Saber Wayne(2100/400) shut the spy Galahad with his knifegun. "When attacked, Galahad loses 400 attackpoints." The reptilian lancer(1400/800) suffered the bullet and collapsed. "Take that, I actually hurt you!" Thryall lost 700 lifepoints. _"That will show Lydia." _Unfortunately An Unfortunate Report had been used this turn, he had one more battle phase to go through. "Come.." Gottoms(3100/2600) and Wayne were forced to attack the dragonic Yubel.

Ceasars LP: 4000 Thryalls LP: 7300

_Gottom's Spy, Normal Trap  
__Select 1 monster on your side of the field to activate this card. Until the end phase of this turn, shift control of the selected monster to your opponent._

Each attack gave him 300 lifepoints back, but he lost 5200 to the reflected damage. "That hurt.. But now I activate the effect of XX-Saber Gottoms. I can tribute one monster to make you discard one card from your hand." Gottoms ordered Wayne to the grave, and he shot one card out of the enemy's hand before he left. "Now there are less monsters on the field for you to manipulate. You have not beaten me yet." He ended his turn. "But you will fall, in the end. Your hope alone will not give you victory." The Tin Pillar started its turn. "Now the Colosseum forces all duelists to choose offense. Therefore.." Terror Incarnate sent a flame from one of its mouths. Gottoms easily deflected the fire with his sword, but Thryall suffered no damage. "Great. Yubel does not even take battle damage in his turn...." But apparently he did not have to take that damage. No, instead he would take a whole different kind. "Yubel stage 1 requires a sacrifice during the endphase. But stage 2 has no such weakness... during the end one will see.. the power of Fellow Sacrifice."

Thryalls LP: 7600

Suddenly Gottoms was wiped out. "What?" During its controllers endphase, Terror Incarnate would kill all monsters besides itself, regardless of their power. "...Maybe I should not bother to summon any monster at all.." He sighed as his turn started. _"But then what would Lydia say?" _She'd probably call him a coward. "Tsk. I can not think about her now. I am doing this for everyone.." He drew a card. In his hands were a monster and a trap. "I set one card in my magic/trap zone and end my turn." For now he would try the gambit of giving Thryall nothing to work with. "It does not matter. You can not save yourself by saving your spirits." However he played a spell that ended that idea right away. "Mage Power. My monster gains power for each spell or trap on my field." Ceasar gasped, he counted three on Thryalls side. "I set one more card." Now there were four. "And strike." The detestable fiend (2000/0) attacked Ceasar directly. "Gah." He lost half his lifepoints in one turn, while Thryall was nearly back at full health. "Damn it.."

Ceasars LP: 4000 Thryalls LP: 7900

He should have seen that coming. The damage Yubel reflected was not dependant on how much Thryall would receive, but on how strong the attackers were. Even with more than zero attackpoints, Terror Incarnate's effects worked. "I set a monster and another trap card." He had no choice but to defend. "Strike.." And Thryall was as impersonal as ever, immediately attacking with his powered up fiend. He destroyed an insect-like warrior. "You destroyed XX-Saber Emmersblade(1300/800). When it goes to the grave, I special summon another level 4 X-Saber." The saber bug was replaced by a duelwielding gazelle (1400/400). "XX-Saber Garsem: It gains 200 attackpoints for every X-Saber on the field." Garsem crossed its razor daggers (1600/400). "Futile... Fellow Sacrifice" But then during the endphase, after Thryall set yet two more traps, Yubel wiped the entire field out once more. Yet when Garsem was destroyed, his other effect could be used. "I now add an X-Saber to my hand." And with that he had completed his combo plans.

Thryalls LP: 8200

"All the damage I did, gone already. But now, I can repay you.." He normal summoned the monster he had drawn. "X-Saber Ragigura(200/1000). When normal summoned, I add one other Saber will return to my hand." The chameleon warrior selected XX-Saber Faultroll. "Then my trap card: Gottom's Emergency Call. When I control one X-Saber, two more will revive by its side." From his cemetery came XX-Saber Gottoms and Wayne. "And you will remember this effect." Now that two or more X-Sabers were before him, Faultroll could come out as well. "One more summon!" The futuristic warrior even used its abilities, reviving Garsem. The gazelle(2400/400) had gained 200 attackpoints for each of the five X-Sabers present. "Impressive." Thryall said, sill no fear in his voice. "You know there is more.. I would not summon this entire army, just to feed the Nightmare Pain." One last card in his hand. "Spell card: Saber Slash!" The daggers, swords and guns of his monsters started glowing. "This spell destroys one card for each X-Saber under my command!"

He controlled five, he would destroy five cards. "I destroy Savage Colosseum, three of your four face-down traps, and Yubel itself!" A fierce storm of weapons was unleashed, destroying the roman field spell, Raigeki Break, Limit Reverse and Equip Shot. But Yubel relented. "You awakened another transformation." Thryall stated coldly. "What?" Terror Incarnate was about to evolve again. "No, no you do not! I use my counter trap: Saber Hole!" Ragigura dove into the ground, creating a big hole. "I sacrifice one saber-monster, to negate your summoning!" Whatever the third form of Yubel was called, it fell into the hole before it could take shape. "..." However Ceasar was shocked to see.. "Yubel?" The first form(0/0) was alive again, it had returned from the grave. "How?" He then saw the trap Thryall had used, Limit Reverse. "That card.. revives a monster with zero attack or less. But.." Saber Slash destroyed that permanent trap, the trap that gave it alive. "Yet when it dies.." And in death, Yubel transformed into a second Terror Incarnate(0/0).

But wait, why was this bad news? The Colosseum was gone, he did not have to attack anymore. He just would not be able to beat Thryall this turn. "Chain Destruction." Yet all that meant nothing anymore, the enemy flipped his last remaining trap. "When a monster is summoned, those in the deck that share his name will perish." Chains shot out of his hand, into his deck. The third Terror Incarnate was broken to pieces. "That means.." And now he could summon the final stage, the dragon of sorrow. "Yubel - Ultimate Nightmare." A demonic eye-filled titan with dragonheads on its shoulders and devilian horns (0/0). Compared to it, Terror Yubel looked like a kitten. "This stage eliminates the final flaw. Now my attacks will redirect the damage as well." He would no longer have to manipulate Ceasars monsters into attacking his one card, he could just end it with his own attacks. _"No.. this is the end."_ He had failed, he could not even give the enemy significant damage. _"I am sorry..Lydia.. In the end I was nothing special.."_

He was left speechless, Thryall wondered if he should just proceed to his turn. "No." But The duelist shook his head. "If I lose. I will lose on my terms." He entered his battle phase, surprising the Tin Pillar. "You have no.." He tried to warn him. "Do not bother. I know what will happen. But I also know you can not catch up to them anymore.. my loss will have accomplished at least that." Gottoms raised his sword. "I will not let you get the finishing blow, I decide how it ends!" The leader of the X-Sabers stabbed the Ultimate Nightmare, the damage was reflected, the black clad gamer would lose all of his lifeforce. "And it ends now..!"

Ceasars LP: 0

".....!?"

Suddenly Elias shot up from his seat, except he was no longer the student. "Ceasar is gone.." He said solemnly. "What?.... oh no.." Some took this news worse than others. "I knew it. I knew he'd end up losing ownership of the Ring." Colin complained. "He did what he had to. We got away because of him, remember?" Nero snapped back at him. "Are you sure?" Rose asked the pharaoh's spirit. "I felt it. The darkness claimed the Ring in spirit. Now all they need to do is to take it from us. I do not know what they will do or already have done to Ceasar Andrews." But he too admired the mans selfsacrifice. If only he could have woken up sooner, then he might have taken the kids place. "Uhm that is all fine and well. But what about the ring itself?" Cleo yelled at everyone, because the golden item was still glowing like a light.

"What in the... when did this happen?" Raness asked her as he took it from her. "Just when we took off. It went ballistic, is it supposed to do that normally?" That did not seem like a normal function. "I have never seen it behave like this.. I.." And that was when it really started to act unpredictably. "Whoa." The thing was pulled to Raness like a magnet, he could barely keep it off of him. He tried to toss it away, but it just slid back to his feet. "It's alive!" Colin panicked. "It is just a trinket. Step on it!" Cleo tried to hold it in place. "Wait. I know what to do.." Nero had a different idea, and approached the vivid Millenium Ring with caution. "Nero, what are you thinking?" He bent down and placed two fingers on it, touching the wadjet eye symbol. "I do not know. But this feels.. familiar." He had to try it. "I.." He went silent all of the sudden, keeping his eyes fixated on the item. "It stopped!" It no longer moved around, but neither did their friend. "Nero?" He eventually responded to their voices. "No.." But Raness sensed a change..

"Who are you." This was not Nero. "My lord." And suddenly the kid kneeled before Raness, talking with a stern tone. "Hey what the." He looked up again. "I have not heard your voice in millenia, my lord. But I know it is you." Someone was possesing him. Whoever this new man was, he seemed to know the Pharaoh. "Answer my question." But the 'lord' did not know if he could trust him. "You do not know me anymore? Oh.. but of course your memories.." Nero stood up, still touching the Ring with his hand. "You do not remember, you can not have known that I sealed a part of my soul into the Ring. Like you had sealed yours in the puzzle." Raness lookaed at the golden puzzle, the vessel for his spirit. "You are.. like me then? Are you one of the priests?" If this man was so familiar with the items and the lord, he would have to be. "Yes. I am the Priest of the Ring, the one you assigned as the succesor of Osirid. I am priest Zevgar. I assisted you in the final battle against the Magus Ka. And my spirit has been waiting all this time.. for your return."

"So you are saying you put yourself in the Ring, presumably with the rings own Power, and you felt the Pharaoh's presence just now, so you woke up? And how are you talking through Nero anyway.." Christine did not like seeing Nero get possessed against his will again. "It is not like him exactly. He speaks for me right now, but I can not use a host like the lord can. It seems though that this one has already had his mind opened by others." Others like Jacob and Glyph. "If you are on our side, you must know something that can help us out. Any information on the enemy will gladly be accepted." Colin figured they'd find out about his allegiance when he would tell them little or much about Ka. "Of course. It seems I have retained most memories of that time. And this was my purpose, to rest until the day both spirits of the puzzle resurfaced." Raness was a bit stunned to hear him say that. "Zevgar.. did you say.. both?" That could only imply... "I fear so.. The Magus Ka.. is not what he seems.. He was once like us.. one of the six priests.."

Meanwhile back in England, Jackson still looked over a recovering Cable, and a not-to-be-trusted Marcus. He had also arranged for a transport team to take the Millenium Key to a safe place. But they had not arrived yet, and the sun was about to set. "This feels bad." They also still had no news from the others, all they knew was that they had the ring and were headed for the airport. "We have no time to wait. Perhaps he should bring it ourselves." The last sliver of sunlight faded over the horizon. **"Bring what?"** And a dark presence sounded its arrival in the form of a question. "!!!" Doe turned around, only to see a wraith emerge from his own dying shadow. **"You do not mean, the Key.. which belongs to us?"** One golden eye stared straight into his soul. **"...symbolist?"**

(To be Continued in New Testament 060: Three Millenia Ago..)

**New Cards used by Ceasar Andrews  
**XX-Saber Emmersblade  
XX-Saber Garsem  
XX-Saber Ragigura

-  
Saber Slash

_-  
__Gottom's Spy  
_Saber Hole

**New Cards used by 'The Tin Pillar' Thryall  
**Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare

-  
Mage Power

-  
Raigeki Break  
Limit Reverse  
Chain Destruction


	60. Three Millennia Ago

**New Testament 060: Three Millennia Ago**

"The Magus.." Before Jackson stood the main enemy, emerging from his own shadow. "Here?" As soon as the sun sank, he had appeared. "You came here for the Millennium Key." He said, while holding the box that contained it wedge between his arm. **"You understand me.. Which one of you did it first, that is the riddle." **The same hollow distant tone, the same immaterial appearance. "You are not really here." Doe replied. **"Again, right on the mark. As expected of twenty-two minds thinking like one.." **The Magus clapped his hands together as if to congratulate the symbolist. But no sound was produced. **"Yes. You have heard of them already; astral projections. That is a power of the Silver Pillar, and therefor it is a power of me." **Jackson also knew that projections were every bit as dangerous as the real deal. **"But you can not say anything else that will impress me.. You will hand over the Key to me now. My side claimed it when your friend the card maker was defeated."**

"... what if I refuse to give it yo you?" Jackson asked carefully. "What am I saying. There is no way I will hand it over." He suddenly shifted tone. "In fact. We should duel you right here and now, just to get rid of you." He did not feel like running, not after what they had done to Cable. **"You seem unable to keep a single decision. Or focus on one single question.. Your Ba and Ka are getting more fragmented by the day."** The personalities of Doe stopped talking to themselves. "What did you say?" They were all concentrating on Ka again. **"That is your affliction, is it not? The one known as Jackson Doe stumbled upon a secret of the world, and ended up like this. And now his mind is slipping, because one piece of the puzzle has fallen out of place. There is a hole in your soul.."**

Jackson twitched, part of him felt more than just aggravated by his words. "How do you know about our condition?" Cable could not have told them, did Turner pass on memories he took from Colin? "Tell me!" He did not want to wait for an answer, yet Ka played a game of silence now. "If you will not speak, or answer. I shall have to force you!" He took out a dueldisk. **"Oh? The army-class solid vision prototype?" **It was Madlyns dueldisk, the one that made holograms deliver real pain. "I shall make you retreat, I shall make you pay!" He inserted his deck. **"You see so little... "**

"Why do you remember this, while I do not?" Raness asked the priest who spoke through Nero's body. "I do not know. I presumed your millennia-long slumber caused some memories to be forgotten.. or perhaps.. 'he' was responsible." He was about to tell things that not even the Pharaoh knew about, things which would take a good deal of the plane ride to be told. "I will get to that in the end." Zevgar said before anyone could ask if the 'he' was the subject of the story. "The Magus Ka was one human, like you and me. And in fact he was one of the six priests who lived to serve The Lord. You may already know which of the seven was his item of choice." They could indeed, as that object was lodged into the mans skull. "The Millenium Eye. The item that has the power to read people's minds." In a way that was the most dangerous power of all. "You are correct. Ka received that item from his successor, Lady Neith. Unfortunately, the corruption that plagued the Lady of the kingdom also claimed him. He abandoned his name and became 'the Magus'."

"But this process was gradual. We did not realize it at first, how the mind of the priests was slowly warped into a twisted shadow of its former self. Through The Eye he could have seen many thoughts and visions that drove him to madness, that gave him an urge for more. In the end Ka wanted the power of all Items, not just one. And most of all, Ka wanted to be the Pharaoh. For to be the Lord, would mean to be in touch with the gods themselves." Colin interrupted by raising his hand. "Aren't your items supposed to sense evil and stuff? How could you not see this coming?" He asked the spirit inside Nero, and Raness as well. "Colin, you know they can not use their items against each other." Cleo snapped at him, even she remembered that fact. "Ordinarily we can not. Yet Ka found a way to overpower the immunity of the items. He found a way, in the Millennium Tome." Raness flinched. He knew about that. "You mean he used the book of the royal line? The one that holds all the secrets to dark magic, the soul and the afterlife?" Nero nodded.

"I shall explain to you of this century. A human soul is more than just a name or a consciousness. The essence is divided..what you call soul is what we call 'Ba'. It is the identity one takes into the next world. Then there is the Ka; the human spirit, an entity that can take many shapes. How they are born is not known exactly, but memories and experiences influence their development. Some humans never form any Ka at all, but they all have it. To remove Ka, is to remove life... In the end all sentient spirits travel on to the spirit worlds beyond." So far everyone got it. "I bet your inner spirit is a vampiress." Colin said to the goth, who told him to shut up again. "Anyway.. Few realms, like ours and Atlantis, discovered this aspect of life. Allthough both claimed they had stolen their idea. The tome was written by the first shadow sorcerer, who found out a way for people to summon their inner spirit. That is how duels came to be. Your current card game is largely based on the inner spirits of humanity. Selected by Tum'aga to bring about a revolution." Luckily that one never came. Though the game itself stayed. "However there is one thing few people know." Nero looked at Raness, who sighed. "You must mean.. the fourth side of humanity. Sheut; the shadows.."

"Shadows? Is that.. the darkness of one's heart?" Christine could imagine something like that existing. "In a way. The heart, the Ib, is what we believed to be the center of all human emotion, yet it is material and transient. Yet the shadow is immortal and it is not harmless. The balance of light and darkness within a person is determined by how they act and how they are treated. A strong good mind can maintain a pure.. enough.. soul." He said as he looked at several duelists who were not entirely innocent. "Hey I avoided all the major sins. Dont look at me." Colin said loudly. "But.. when faced with a harsh environment, an even harsher power pulling the strings, the shadows grows stronger and stronger. Soon enough the darkness outweighs the light, and the shadow can take over the soul. They receive a new name and a wicked Ka. And in a way, the Magus was one of the first to let himself be taken over.. And when he discovered the Tome, he discovered the ways in which he could gain more shadow allies.. The Pillars.."

"We know those guys, we met them before." Christine shuddered to think of them. "Yes. They are Ka's eternal servants. Six he created with the magic of the book, to mirror the six priests of The Lord. He took many prisoners from the royal dungeon and trained them, forced them to fight to the death in order to strengthen their inner spirits. Then when the heart became corrupted enough to let the shadow take over, he took them from their bodies and gave them new vessels. You must have seen them.." Their eyes widened with realization. "Those things! The lamp, the compass.. and the.." They had seen six in total. "Yes. Those are the objects of their immortality. Within the heart is stored, which anchors their souls to this world. As long as they are not destroyed, the pillars will regenerate time and time again. Sometimes they will take new names and faces..others will take new Ka spirits as their allies." Both cases had examples; Hieroglyph and Agryos had very familiar faces, the Dioscuri were using monsters made by people from this time period.

"Then those items, must be like the anti-Millennium items. Except he used almost every element besides gold to make them." However Ka called himself the 'Gold Pillar'. Was that because of the Eye? "Zevgar. If we knew this then, how could those objects exist now?" Raness did not think they would let such dangerous items stay intact. "We did destroy them Pharaoh. In the final battle all the pillars lost their hearts, while their souls were banished into the shadow-world. Over the millennia some even forgot their name or spirit ally's name. However.. Ka never forgot. Because.." Nero glared at the puzzle. "Before he died. One piece of his rotten soul was hidden in his eye and your puzzle." Everyone gasped. "Do not tell me that.." And they already knew the name of a dark entity hidden inside the puzzle. "Yes. The one you call Jacob..

"He was indeed a fragment of Ka. When the puzzle was found by the ancestors of Elias, it was too fragmented to allow an awakening. However Jacob's fragment ended in the hands of this young man here, almost a century later." And Jacobs history was known to them all. "He did not remember his own past either, filling the void with Nero's own memories. But when he returned to the Memory World, the dimension Raness existed in, he saw himself in the past. That was enough to begin his return to the source. All that time ago we thought we had made sure to erase Ka from this world, we burned the body, we destroyed all his creations. Yet we never thought to destroy the Millennium Eye." They were too affraid to destroy one of the seven items. "And too late did we find out that Ka had already cut out a part of his heart. We never found the seventh anti-item, which stored one piece of all seven hearts. And because it existed, Ka could continue to manipulate this world. And recently he found someone who could find Ka's heart and remake the seven..."

"Wow. That is quite a story there.." Cleo found it interesting, but would probably not remember much of it later. "But what I want to know is.. what does Ka even want? It can not be as simple as to take over the world." Raness and Zevgar shook their heads at the same time. "I fear it is much worse. For within the Tome lies an even darker secret; The Gate of Alkahest. You see the tome is like an alchemists book, it tells one how to craft gold and meld it into items. That is one of the gate's powers, which the writer named after himself: Alkahest the first sorcerer." Now they at least knew the name of that guy. "But either some pages were torn out, or Ka found out through another way. But the Magus ultimately wants to recreate the gate itself, the doorway into the original world of magic. The truths of immortality, purity, and invincibility lie beyond. But even I do not dare to guess what Ka seeks to gain there, or how he will open it. All I know is that the seven original items are..." He paused suddenly. "I.. I think I ... stayed too long.. Lord I.."

He fell to the floor of the plane cabin, placing both hands down. "Nero?" Christine immediately wondered if control had been given back to Jaocbus. "Yeah.. I am here.. That was..weird." He slowly got up. "I heard everything too. But I do not know what he was thinking, or why he suddenly abandoned me.." He would say he could now tell how Elias felt, except this experience was not as bad as living with Jacob. "Did he worry about overtaxing him?" Colin asked Raness, as he might have more intel on matters like these. "I can not tell. But I too felt something strange just now." He could not describe the feeling, but it was something he could not deny. "I fear something might have happened back at your base." They needed to return as quickly as they could. "Call them in now!" And they should have done that sooner too.

"How.." Jackson was wheezing. "Why.." He was low on lifeforce. "What.." And the Magus Ka stood there untouched. **"How is it that I still stand? Why is it that your Ka can not touch me? What is my body made off? To make you understand all of this, to make all of you understand.. you do not have the time.... Look." **Suddenly Doe felt strange, the personalities were getting tired. **"The more you exert yourself, the less cohesive your mind becomes.. Without number nine, the others can not coexist." **Jackson was trembling now, but he still had energy left. "No. You are wrong.. we are.. always together. You are.. doing this." He did not believe it, the Magus had to be responsible for this somehow. **"And when coexistence is threatened, a new entity can intrude.." **Yet Ka ignored him.

At least until an earlier question was rephrased. "How.. can you.. understand.. more than us?" The shadow stopped to glare at Jackson. **"I know about it all.. because a little fly told me.." **As if to demonstrate, he conjured a small speck of darkness to fly around Doe. **"The darkness in all beings talk to me, listen to me. Your shadow has been growing stronger ever since the day you touched Infinity. And while none might ever be able to tell what it was that broke your soul, your 'Sheut' may fix it again." **Now the symbolist felt the consequences, his vision was fading and his breathing got heavier. "This is not.. ours. This is.. a false shadow." Ka walked up to him, and took the suitcase that held the Key. **"It does not matter. Once life is created, it will not be uncreated. It can either be banished.. or cleansed." **He broke the case easily, and took the item out. **"The fate that waits for all, is coming for you now.. But you do not have to make that choice alone." **He then pressed the Key against Jacksons forehead. **"Send The Lord my regards.." **He pulled back and sank into the ground, leaving Doe's subconscious to fade into darkness.

(To be Continued in New Testament 061: Jackson doesn't live Here anymore)


	61. Jackson does not live Here anymore

**New Testament 061: Jackson does not live Here anymore.**

The good news was that everyone returned to the camp safely, and they had the millennium ring with them. The bad news, coming from both sides, was the defeat and disappearance of Ceasar from the airplane team and the loss of the Key from the others on ground. _"First Prospero, now Andrews. It seems I am losing allies fast."_ An annoyed Marcus thought as he heard the news. His two remaining accomplices did not seem to saddened either. "At least he will have died fighting." Madlyn seemed to admire his resolve, while Lydia appeared indifferent on the outside. "I warned him. He isn't a man as much as he is a fool.."

"So that Key is gone... and nobody saw who took it?" The commander at the scene asked the men of the camp. "We are sorry sir. It happened outside of our line of sight, the enemy came and went without passing the perimeter." They attributed it more of that magical mess they had no real understanding of. "That is just great. I assume that means the world is closer to doom?" He asked the duelists, who nodded in unison. "At this rate I might have to inform the government and ask for all available troops to launch a coordinated assault." But even in that he had not much fate. "We still have the ring however." Nero said as he showed it to the soldiers. "That you do. And if our unit in Egypt finds the Scales you talked off, the odds will only be 3 to 4 in their favor." At this point he wanted all the good news he could get. "But..your friend.."

But then he took them to the tent where Jackson was kept. "I fear he will not wake up for a while." He looked even worse then they had imagined. "Oh no.." He was strapped to a bed, hooked up on medical equipment. "The man has become unresponsive, but not like the ones we recorded from the Tum'aga incident." A doctor was with him and explained his conditions. "His lifesigns and mental waves are unstable. Sometimes he breathes too little, sometimes too much. His eyes flicker open and shut every minute.." He had never seen anything like it, it was nothing like a coma. "Who could have done this to him?" Raness himself approached the now apparently calm Doe. "His soul is still in there... but it is damaged." His hand reached out to touch him. "What are you doing?" The doctor asked him. "I am trying something. It will not do him harm.. I just.." The fingertips were almost upon his forehead, but then he received a sharp jolt. "Tsk.." For a second a light shone. "What the?" It was the symbol of the Millennium. "Ka.."

"This is the work of the Magus. Before he left he must have used the Millennium Key to crack open a hole into his mind." That did not explain everything, but he now at least knew who had taken the Ankh. "Can we do something about it?" Christine asked the Pharaoh. "I believe I can. If this is a curse inflicted by the Millennium Item, my own should be able to lift it." He grabbed the puzzle and closed his eyes. "To him too I owe my awakening, I shall not abandon Jackson to this fate." Then he placed his hand on Doe's head one more time, not backing down from the shocking pain. "Gah!" Yet he almost immediately pulled back. "Hey are you giving up already?!" Cleo yelled at him. "What?" But he looked positively confused. "I did not.. do anything. What are you talking about?" Because it was Elias. "What, you're back? where did Raness go?" The student shrugged. "I barely know what he was trying to do in the first place. I do not see everything he sees, remember? But.." He weighed the Puzzle itself. "Is it me, or does it feel lighter?"

Even if he had been more in tune with the spirit inside, not even Elias would be able to see where Raness was headed. The soul had left the puzzle, falling into the depths of the symbolists's fractured mind. He coursed through a tunnel of shadows, with no end in sight. This was not what he had intended to do. _"Curse it. This was a trap.."_ Ka had set it for him, letting him think dark magic was afflicting Jacksons mind. In fact all he had done was open the doors, and removed the floor. _"But then if it was not he that did this to Jackson. Who caused his mental decay?" _After a few minutes, by his count at least, he seemed to slow down. The darkness around him however never let up, not even when he came to a sudden stop in a black void. "Jackson Doe!.. can you hear me!?" He shouted out, but did not expect an answer. _"It will not be that easy.." _He held his hands in front of his chest. _"But the mind makes reality here.. so let there be light." _He managed to summon a mental representation of the puzzle, and it shone out a bright light. "!!!"

He saw a road, but not like one you'd normally see. It started out as a single wide path, coming from one end of the void. Yet somewhere down the middle it split up into twenty-two smaller roads, all of them clustered around each other in every dimensional direction. "That must be.." He managed to move down towards the path, and approached the thickened part right before the split. Yet as soon as he stepped on it, a flash blinded his eyes for a second. When Raness could see again, the void had been replaced. "This is.. a memory?" He saw the same images that the great serpent Ger had seen all those months ago. Except clearer.. "That is him.. seven years ago." He saw a younger Jackson, climbing a hill, stumbling into a cave. That was where he had found it, the thing that caused his personality to shatter. "..." Raness did not know what it was, it looked vaguely like a mirror. However when the man in the memory touched the glass of the strange object, another flash came to push the viewer back into the shadows.

He walked to the end of the wide road, now there were twenty-two to choose from. "I knew it." He had guessed what was at the end of these paths, and following them for some time proved him right. They were here at the opposite end were twenty-two apparitions, the Persona spirits. "You used these, in my world of memories." He recognized some, as the faces Jackson had taken in that world. "But none of them are really you, are they? They are just outward symbols of the one mind you used to have. Not deep enough to posses their own soul, but alive in all other ways." The many cords then represented the diverging memories of all these personalities. He stepped on one of them and saw flashes of his recent past. Included was a playback of the encounter with Ka himself. "The Magus.. he attacked you. As I feared.." The Key had been indeed used to set a trap. Yet now Raness saw damage done to the memory lines, they were getting thinner and cruder. And it was not due to that enemy. "The roads wither away.. before this night."

He tried to get a reaction from one of the Persona, but they all stared into the distance with a vacant glare. They appeared as braindead as the body. "Wait a second." However one spirit stood out, one spirit whose mental cord looked new and vivid. "You are.. new?" If one were to look to the other side, they could see that this cord actually came from nothingness. It intruded on the collection at the same time one of the twenty-two paths disappeared. "Who are you?" He looked at the symbol that stood out, the tenth in a row. "The Hermit..." It was a floating ghoulish head with long hair and a triangular cap, it was Yomotsu Shikome. "I must see... the memories of this creature." He carefully floated down to its path and stepped on it. Another flash claimed his senses, and now he was on a beach. "What? This is the day that.." Behind was a large tower, and in front of him was a blackened sea. "You came." And on the beach itself was someone that spoke to him. "You?" It was a young girl in uniform.. it was Jane Doe. "Good.. day.."

He knew little about her, but the duelists had told him enough. "You are the child of Ger, the reflection made by Cadron." They had spoken to him about what Tum'aga did, about Orichalcos, and the great serpent Ger "Yes. Who.. are you?" Jane looked like she had been described, like a female mirror image of Jackson. "A friend.. of Jacksons... Who wants to know if you caused him pain.." He just did not expect to see her, as far as anyone knew, all parts of Ger were destroyed. "Jackson lost someone.." Somehow she managed to manifest a stack of cards in her hand. "What?" And the girl tossed one of them at his feet. "A hole." It was Arahabaki, the original Hermit symbol, the one Cadron had killed before he himself died. "You mean to say.. you filled it?" She nodded. "I made him a new one.. so that he and I could live.. I asked a friend, and he listened." Raness realized she was talking about Cable, the card maker. She must have subconsciously influenced Jackson to make him long for a replacement card for Arahabaki. "A reflection.."

"Then you never died. You entered his soul at the same time that Cadron erased a part of it. But your very presence is destabilizing his brain.." He also figured that meeting Ka, master of shadows, was not beneficial to someone who had such a strong being of darkness inside him. As Jane was given life by a dark god, her essence could only be pure darkness. "I am sorry. But I see no other way to save him, besides getting rid of you." He tried to use the puzzle in his hands again, to flood the beach with holy light. "You are sorry. I am as well." Yet he had to stop, on the count of a large black tentacle coming out of nowhere. "Gyah!" He dodged it just in time. "The sea?" The oily ocean itself had attacked him, and now it slithered between the two. "I do not want to go, you can not make me.." The Pharaoh stood up again. "You can not make me leave either." He felt there was only one way to settle this. "I will fight for Jackson.. I will fight for who he was and who he is." He summoned a dueldisk. "... Jackson.. my equal." So did she.

Jane's LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 8000

Raness went first, and he played a field spell. "Realm of Light; Every time a card is discarded from my deck, this spell gains a shine-counter. Such counters make my Lightsworn stronger as well." A light came from the water that made the black sea recede, his field was a shining white city. "You like... light.." He also placed one trap card and summoned Lightsworn Summoner Lumina(1000/1000). "I am, what you might call, a messenger of it." During the endphase, Lumina discarded three cards, so the Realm gained 1 counter. Lumina gained 100 attackpoints for that counter (1100/1000). "You are.. special. Not like normal souls." Jane drew her card. "Not like me.. or Jackson." And to her field she summoned a monster. "I want you to meet.. my persona.. Hermes, the Magician." A mechanical warrior with golden wings attached to its feet(1200/1200). "So you have your own symbols? Waiting to replace Jacksons when they collapse into nothingness.." She did not respond, instead she attacked. "I dislike.. Light."

_Hermes, Descendant Symbol of the Magician, 4/1200/1200 Fire/Warrior/Persona  
__If the effect of 'Ascension' is activated, this card can be tributed to special summon 'Trismegistus, Ascendant Symbol of the Magician'.  
__This card gains the following effects depending on the last card effect's type that was activated, excluding the effect of a Persona monster.  
__Monster: When the last effect resolves, destroy one monster on the field.  
__Spell/Trap: When the last effect resolves, destroy one spell or trap card on the field._

"Trap card: Lightsworn Barrier!" Raness was however ready for an attack, and discarded two cards from his deck to negate her attack. Realm of Light gave Lumina more shine-counters to draw power from (1200/1000) "But that.. will hurt too." However Hermes started to glow all over. "?" And suddenly the barrier was destroyed. "Hermes kills what resolves." His effect was used to shatter a trap. "But I already stopped your attack." He claimed. "Yes." Only for her to play a quickplay spell: Ascension. "What is.. ascension?" The spell transformed Hermes into its second self, Trismegistus; the redder and more angelic Magician(2100/2100). "My spirit.. is not limited to one appearance.." This version had not attacked yet. And with the trap gone, nothing could protect Lumina. "Disappear.." The four-winged warrior cut down the Lightsworn summoner with a golden sword. _"Tsk. There is still not enough I understand."_ Raness could not predict what cards she would use. _"This girl.. is not using parts of his mind. So then.. where is Jackson?"_

Raness's LP: 7100

_Trismegistus, Ascendant Symbol of the Magician, 7/2100/2100 Fire/Warrior/Persona  
__This card can not be normal summoned or set, this card only be special summoned by the effect of 'Ascension'.  
__This card gains the following effects depending on the last card effect's type that was activated, excluding the effect of a Persona monster.  
__Monster: When the last effect resolves, destroy two monster cards on the field.  
__Spell/Trap: When the last effect resolves, destroy two spell or trap cards on the field._

In the real world..

Thryall flew across the north sea, back to England to follow the trail of the Ring. However he would not reach them, before someone else reached him. "My Lord." He stopped in mid-flight, hovering right in front of the appearance of his master. **"You have donfe well, Lead Pillar. We now possess the Ring." **His astral projection could talk to the servants, even this far up in the sky. **"But you need not chase after the physical. They will soon be force to bring it to us.. along with the Puzzle." **Suddenly the projection widened, allowing Thryall to see as if he was the one being projected. "I see." And there he saw a struggling William Carter, held to the ground by Dioscure. "I found him awake, unfortunate was the Facade." He looked back to the Magus. "Then I shall rejoin you Creator." But Ka shook his head. **"No. We are done with this location. This place has no more purpose for us. The Mercury Pillar already waits for the others at the homeland" **He knew what that meant. "To go back to Egypt.."

He looked over the horizon again. "Then what is to become of the Pharaoh and the Ring?" He still wanted to retrieve them. "Hieroglyph is taking care of that. He was closer by!" Dioscure said excitedly. **"The Lord will not be able to interfere. I have left him a greeting that will seal his soul away from this world. The Tin Pillar will use that chance to obtain what belongs to us. And if the Lord solves the puzzle before that time. The last elements will regenerate soon afterwards" **In her hands she had the Iron Key. "I understand Creator. I shall leave it up to the shadows of Tin and Silver.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 062: I'll Face Myself)

**New Card used by Raness  
**Realm of Light

**New Cards used by Jane Doe  
**_Hermes, Descendant Symbol of the Magician  
__Trismegistus, Ascendant Symbol of the Magician_


	62. I'll Face Myself

**New Testament 062: I'll Face Myself**

They were busy here in Egypt. Troops from Cable's squad had travelled all the way to the sunny country to search for the final millenium item. Of course locating something in a pyramid that had not already been found would be nearly impossible. Nevertheless the local police had barred off the area and contacted the best teams they could find to help investigate the tombs. Yet they ran around, because they were in a hurry. They wanted to find it before the enemy got here. "..." Too bad one of them had already made it to the desert before they could even enter. Fatimah the Mercury Pillar floated above the pyramid, watching the busy people... She thought they looked like ants. _"Home Land." _She held the Millenium Tauk in one hand, the Mercury Hourglass in the other. _"The Sevent Item.. is here."_ And then she dropped out of the sky like a ton of bricks, crashlanding into the sand. "What was that?" All the cops stopped to look at the dustcloud, and saw the scarlet figure emerge. "Is that the enemy?" It would be the last thing they saw that day.

"What do you mean he is gone? Where could have have gone too? How does a soul even have weight?" Cleo asked Elias, rather loudly. "I don't know. But you will heve to trust me on this. After a dozen times of being possessed and carrying him around, I have never felt the puzzle like this. It feels lighter mentally, not physically.. I guess." They looked at Jackson again. "Maybe he is inside.." Nero turned to see the doctor. "Was there any change in Doe's vitals?" The man shook his head. "Still declining. Whatever that kid is going through, and whatever trick was pulled just now. It shows no immediate effects.." They did not like this, not one bit. "If Raness is gone, what is to stop the enemy from attacking us again?" They too figured that Ka must have set this trap just to remove the Pharaoh's spirit. "Maybe that other guy can help us." Christine looked at the Millenium Ring. "What other guy?" The camp commander asked. "Wait. Don't tell me you have found another spirit inside an object." They nodded. "Oh that's just grand."

Jane's LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 7100

Inside Jacksons head, the Pharaoh was indeed trying to change his conditions. But Jane Doe, the other entity, did not want to leave. "My turn." This girl was using her own set of Personae, cards she made by killing Jacksons mind one piece at a time. At least that was how it worked during her duel with Doe. "The Magician. A replacement for Surtr?" It was an annoying monster too, this Trismegistus(2100/2100). Any card he would play, spell/trap/monster effect, the red angel would destroy two of that kind afterwards. _"Wait. If that is true, why did she not destroy Realm of Light when it got its second shine-counter?" _Perhaps there was a hidden ruling in effect here, he had to check it out. "I activate Charge of the Light Brigade. I discard three cards from the top of my deck to add one Lightsworn to my hand!"

He was in luck, he discarded Wulf the Lightsworn Beast and a Lightsworn Saber. Both would be put on his field due to their effects. "A choice.." Trismegistus glowed red again, yet it had to wait. "I was right. Your monster can only destroy once, or else it messes up its timing. So now you must pick spell or monster effect." If she picked spell, she could destroy the saber but not the field spell. Realm of Light could save itself by sacrificing two shine-counters, and right now it had three. But if she picked monster effect, there would only be two monsters on the field, hers and his. _"And she 'must' pick two.."_ Jane however made the decision rather quickly, Trismegistus destroyed itself and the Beast. "I see. This way you also get rid of Lightsworn Saber, since I have nothing to equip it too." Had she left Wulf alone, it still would have been strong enough to kill her Persona. "I add Ehren to my hand and normal summon her! The Monk attacks directly." The female brawler appeared, empowered by Realm of Light(1900/100), and knocked the dark girl down.

Jane's LP: 6100

Raness ended his turn, Ehren discarded three cards from the deck. The fourth Shine counter improved her powers once more (2000/1000) "... Pain.." She got up again and brushed off her uniform. "I can feel pain. I has been a while." She summoned a new Persona, a decidedly more feminine entity sitting in a hovering hollow throne. "But you are wrong. These are not.. replacements..." This one was of the Lovers arcana, the angel Io(1000/1000). "This bond is mine. Mine alone.." And then she activated a spell. "Another Ascension?" Except it was a continuous spell: Ascended Soul - Genuine Bond. "The Hermit was my gift to Jackson.. for letting me live." It was apparently a permanent version of Ascending, as she immediately removed Isis for her Ascendant form. Out came a less humanoid fairy, who had exchanged legs for wings(2000/2000). This was Isis, the Ascended Lovers Symbol. Strangely it was summoned in defense mode, she must not have wanted to attack suicidally._ "It is almost as if she is trying to make a statement now.." _

_Io, Descendant Symbol of the Lovers, 3/1000/900 Light/Fairy  
__If the effect of 'Ascension' is activated, this card can be tributed to special summon 'Isis, Ascendant Symbol of the Lovers'.  
__This card gains the following effects depending on the last card effect's type that was activated, excluding the effect of a Persona monster.  
__Monster: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 100 for every monster in your graveyard.  
__Spell: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 100 for every spell card in your graveyard.  
__Trap: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 100 for every trap card in your graveyard. _

_Ascended Soul - Genuine Bond, Continuous Spell  
__Once per turn you can remove from play one 'Persona' monster with 'Descendant' in its name  
__to special summon from your deck a 'Persona' monster with the respective 'Ascendant' term as indicated on the monster card._

_Isis, Ascendant Symbol of the Lovers, 8/2000/1800 Light/Fairy  
__This card can not be normal summoned or set, this card only be special summoned by the effect of 'Ascension'.  
__This card gains the following effects depending on the last card effect's type that was activated, excluding the effect of a Persona monster.  
__Monster: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 500 for every 'Persona' monster in your graveyard.  
__Spell: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 500 for every spell card in your graveyard.  
__Trap: During your standby phase, increase your life points x 500 for every trap card in your graveyard._

Despite her nature, Jane seemed to like Jackson. Yet her very presence was like poison to him. "You will not take that away." She also placed two trap cards down and ended. "..." Raness did not know what to say anymore. He was starting to get second thoughts. _"But I must.." _Nevertheless, Jacksons life was at stake. "I must!" Ehren made a leaping kick straight towards the floating Lover Symbol. "Why?" But then Jane flipped her trap card; Moonless Gown. A veil of moonlight and fog surrounded Isis. "Moonless Gown?" Ehren was pushed back by the veil, in fact her kick was returned to the sender. "gah!" This time he got knocked down. "That trap reflects all attacks?" It did not fade away, it was a continous effect. "Why do you have to?" Jane asked him a second time. "I already told you." He coughed and stood up again. "I am his friend." He placed one monster facedown and two trap cards. Ehren(2000/1000) discarded three more cards, his field gained a fifth counter. "Friend?.. But his memories.. did not tell me about you."

Raness's LP: 5000

_Moonless Gown, Continuous Trap  
__This card's effect does not change the effect of a 'Persona' monster card. Destroy this card at the start of your next battle phase.  
__As long as this card is face-up on the field your opponent's cards can not be destroyed by your card's effects.  
__When an opponents monster attacks a 'Persona' monster you control, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to the attacking monsters ATK and negate _the attack.

"Memories?" He just realize that she probably knew everything Jackson did, so she would know about Elias as well. "I do not recognize you." She stated coldly. "Oh?" He had not given it thought before, that his physical appearance was different from that of the student Gaines. In here he looked like how he felt all the time, the egyptian Pharaoh. Allthough right now he was not wearing his royal outfit, but the clothes he had in the Memory World. "I suppose I have to tell you. I am the Pharaoh Raness. A spirit of three millenia ago." For a second the girl looked shocked, but then quickly resumed her emotionless stance. "You?" She closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes. I see now. I looked at the wrong memories." He could almost see a faint smile form on her lips. "You control gods, do you not?" He did not expect that question. "..I do.. I am their messenger." She nodded slowly. ".. of the Light." Her turn began. Isis was stuck in spell-form due to his field card, so Jane gained 500 lifepoints for the one spell in her cemetery.

Jane's LP: 6600

Then a spell was activated, Cross Mind Fusion. "In here, your god will not help... I will show you our god. The proof..that we are equals." It was the Persona-version of Future Fusion. In two turns she would summon a fusion Persona from her deck. "What are you doing?" Yet the materials she was discarding for that fusion, was more than he could count. She discarded 21 cards in total into the grave. "This will be the ultimate Persona. His gift to me.. " Those cards had to be, all the Persona Jackson created. Her deck did look to big to just have 40 cards in it. "But with that many in the grave." If Isis shifted into her monster-mode, Jane would gain more than 10000 lifepoints each turn. "You already fear.. me." She then summoned one of her first creations, the needle knight Polydeuces(1700/1400). "!!! And that one does damage!" Ascended Soul removed it from play to transform it into the Ascendant Emperor; Ceasar (2200/2000). _"During her standby phase, that one will do 300 damage for each monster in the grave." _He had to kill it at any cost. "Turn end."

Since the Moonless Gown still circled around her, she could not attack. Yet he could not attack either. "Draw!" He drew a trap, and placed it down. "I reveal my set monster, the Lightsworn Rinyan." The rogue cat was flip summoned, thus he could send one card back to the deck and draw one card. "Good." He got a nice card. "I sacrifice Rinyan, to tribute summon Celestia!" A beam of light shot down from the clouds, and an angel(2700/200) descended towards the mirky beach. "When tribute summoned, I can discard four cards to destroy two cards on the opponents field." He discarded the four and Celestia channeled holy beams from her staff towards the two cards he chose. "Moonless Gown and Ceasar!" The roman emperor and her veil were erased by the divine light. "More light... you should stop it." Or else she would destroy his cards apparently, as she used a trap Jackson often used: Destruction of One's Mind. "No.." The trap payed him back for his destruction effect by destroying both Celestia and Ehren.

"..But I still have this: Glorious Illusion!" He flipped a continuous trap, which would revive one Lightsworn from the cemetery. "I revive Gragonith, the Lightsworn Dragon(2000/1600)." The dragon gained 300 attackpoints for each unique lightsworn in his cemetery. Aside from Rinyan, Ehren, Wulf and Lumina, he had also discarded three other unique Lightsworn. "I enter my battle phase, and Gragonith(4600/1600) attacks Isis." It could also inflict piercing damage, so Isis's defense would not stop Jane from getting hurt. The dragon shot a bolt of lightning from its one horn, which zapped Jane while desintegrating the healing Lovers fairy. "..." He waited to end his turn, she seemed to take a while to get over the pain. "....You really like Jackson too." She said after she recovered. Allthough she did not look that much better. During the endphase both Gragonith and Glorious Illusion forced him to discard 2 cards, Realm of Light gained even more counters, and Gragonith even more power(4800/1600). "But how can you ask me to leave? When you know.. little.."

Jane's LP: 4400

"Can't you see it? Can't you tell that you are hurting Jackson?" She started her turn by playing the spell, The Tarot, to draw two new cards. "But if I have to... where do you want.. me to go?" He froze up. Raness actually did not think about that. "I do not know." She could not stay here, yet he was not so sure he wanted to do what seemed to be the only other solution. "You want to kill me.." She truly sounded saddened now. "I do not wish it, but I can not let Jackson die." He said, not as determined as before. "How.. you do not know him.. not like I do. I have.. all his memories." She summoned another one of her Descendants, this time it was Palladion the Chariot spirit(0/2300). Of course she used Ascended Soul - Genuine Bond to upgrade it to the ascended form of Athena. It inherited the stats of its original self and was placed in defense mode (0/2300). "I wish there was another way. I wish I knew why a creation of the dark god Ger became like you. But I just can not.. think of a place for you to go.. except to where shadows go.."

_Athena, Ascendant Symbol of the Chariot, 8/?/? Light/Machine  
__This card's attack and defense points are equal to the attack and defense points of the monster(s) tributed to summon this monster.  
__Monster: This monster gains 1000 attack and defense points.  
__Spell: This monster gains 1000 defense points, and is switched to attack mode.  
__Trap: This monster gains 1000 attack points and is switched to defense mode._

"That does not sound.. nice." She finished her turn by placing one spell card down. "..." He did not say anything anymore, except.. "I attack.." Gragonith struck the defending Athena, sending a lot of fire damage towards Jane. "Stop it." Yet she flipped the spell, the quickplay card Dark Hour. "Gah." The sky turned dark while the sea turned bloodred. Now her monster would survive, while his would be destroyed. "Trap Card: The Afterglow of a Miracle!" He used his trap to revive Gragonith(4800/1600) right after he was destroyed by her spell. And he could attack again. "Get ready..." The dragon released a flame of energy, threatening to consume Athena for good. "You.. you will not kill me!" However because he had used the piercing effect of Gragonith, Athena's defense rose (0/3400). His second attack only hit her for 1400 damage, leaving her with 600 lifepoints instead of zero. "I.." The attack still weakened her a lot, she was barely standing on her own feet now. "I..Hate you!.." She raised her voice at last, her emotions felt genuine

Jane's LP: 500

Raness placed a trap and his turn was over. Though during the endphase Gragonith discarded three cards; a Lightsworn Wulf(2700/300) that special summoned in defense mode, and two other Lightsworns that would give the dragon(5500/1600) more power. "I hate light! I hate gods!... I only love.. him." With difficulty she drew her next card. "And now.. you will see." Cross Mind Fusion finally sprung open. "Ugh..." Raness had forgotten about that. But was it really going to summon god? "I fused them all together, like he would have wanted. Combined all twenty-one of his personalities.." What she had fused seemed to require a minimum of three Persona, yet there was no maximum limit. "This is what he created, to fuse ourselves together. It was not Cadron.. he let me in.. before Hermit left." Cross Mind Fusion opened the extra deck, and allowed the ultimate Persona to come out. "Messiah!" It was a magnificent white angel, with pristine armor and clothes, and a rope of coffins chained to its arm. It radiated an aura of pure divinity, just like Obelisk. "Him?" But the most striking part of the white spirit was its face. It was the face of his 'friend'; Jackson Doe. _"This god.. is Jackson.. or is it the other way around?"_

(To be Continued in New Testament 063: One Persons Salvation)

**New Cards used by Raness  
**Celestia, Lightsworn Angel

-  
Charge of the Light Brigade

-  
Glorious Illusion

**New Cards used by Jane Doe  
**_Io, Descendant Symbol of the Lovers  
__Isis, Ascendant Symbol of the Lovers  
__Athena, Ascendant Symbol of the Chariot_

_-  
Ascended Soul - Genuine Bond  
__Cross Mind Fusion_

_-  
__Moonless Gown  
__Destruction of One's Mind_


	63. One Persons Salvation

**New Testament 063: One Persons Salvation**

Jane's LP: 500 Raness's LP: 5000

_Messiah, Symbol of the World 12/?/? Divine/Divine Beast/Fusion  
__'Orpheus' + 'Thanatos' + 'any number of Persona monsters'  
__This monster can only be summoned through a fusion summon made with the above fusion material monsters.  
__The original ATK and DEF of this card are each 600 x the number of fusion material monsters used for its fusion summon.  
__Once every turn, you can remove from play 1 persona card from your graveyard, this card gains one of three effects of that monster while face-up on the field.  
__During your standby phase, you can discard one persona monster card from your deck to your graveyard._

Before him stood a godlike being, who had the body of an angel, but the face of a human he knew well. "This is.. the combination of Jacksons minds." A multitude of coffins was attached to its arm, and there appeared to be a crack in its marble-like chest_."A hole in the soul..that must be where The Hermit came from.."_ However the most terrifying part was its power, it gained 600 points for each Persona fused into it. And she had fused 21 to make The World(12600/12600). "Now you will leave.." Oddly the spirit Messiah extended its hand gracefully, which Jane grabbed and used to stand up properly. "You will let me stay with Jackson.. or die." The white spirit spread its wings and flew down towards Gragonith (5200/1600). "Gah. Trap card: Luminous Momentum!" He however did not want to lose just yet. "This trap can either reverse or double a monsters attackboosts, and I choose the latter effect!" Gragonith's original strength had originally been upped by 3500, now he gained twice that much strength (9000/1600). Raness barely survived the dragons demise.

Raness's LP: 1500

_Luminous Momentum, Normal Trap  
__You can not activate this card if you control other set cards in the magic/trap zone. Activate one of the following effects:  
__- Increases to the ATK of one monster on the field are reversed for the turn in which this card is activated.  
__- Increases to the ATK of one monster on the field are doubled for the turn in which this card is activated._

"Why.." Jane was disappointed. "Why do you even resist god?" Messiah flew back to her, and one of the coffins on the chain opened. "It has no use, your determination." From the graveyard, a satanic spirit came, and it was locked into the coffin. "No more.. traps." She had removed Satan from play, the Symbol of Judgment, to give Messiah its trap-effect. _"That means, from now on.. I wont be able to use traps?" _It appeared that once put into the coffin, the Persona stayed. Messiah's strength was not just the amount of persona fused into it, but the number of abilities it could summon. "You can not win." She ended her turn. "I will not pretend to understand more than you do. But you must hear me out.. this mind can not live on like this. You and him will both die at this rate. You do not want that!" He drew his card. "I do not believe you. I healed him... my gift. His gift.. helped me." Reasoning with her seemed to go nowhere. "Curse it. You do not give me a choice.." He activated Pot of Avarice, returning five cards to the deck to draw twice.

He got a spell and a very helpful monster. "I attack and activate the effect of this card!" He discarded Honest, using it on Wulf(2700/300). His attack rose by an amount equal to the god he(14700/300) was ordered to attack. "You are not.. honest.." Yet Messiah sealed another Persona into its coffins, the Moon beast Seth. "What?" His monsters effect was invoked, which would flip a monster facedown after another effect resolved. Therefore the beast lost his attackboost as it was set against his masters will. He could of course switch it back up again, but there was no point to that without an Honest in his hand. "Swords of Revealing Light." Instead he played the spell card that would seal her attacks for the next three turns. "No." But that too was rejected. Because as soon as she was given back her turn, Messiah removed Scathach from play to mimic its spell-effect. "No spells either." By discarding one card, she could destroy all of his spells on the field. Realm of Light sacrificed two Shine-counters to survive, but The Swords were less fortunate. "No tricks, no lies. Just disappear.." Then Messiah sent a ball of light into the air, which came crashing down upon the defending Wulf like a nuclear explosion. _"GGh... but he is at least in defense.."_

His turn came up again, Raness drew another monster card. By now his deck was running thin, as usual in these Lightsworn duels. _"I can not use traps or spells against him. And there are still 18 effects left for it to use.. no.."_ Actually there were more, she could also choose to remove her own Personae. Yet she chose not to. "Hmm" He then spotted a weak spot in the God's mighty defenses. _"That card was summoned by a spell, and it is still on the field." _Cross Mind Fusion; only as long as it was on the field could the fusion monster use its effects. So if he destroyed it, Messiah would lose eveyrthing he copied, and all of its ATK. "I normal summon this card!" And he had drawn just the thing. "Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. She can destroy one spell or trap after switching to defense." He switched the blackhaired magician(1700/200) to defense mode, and she released a spell from her staff that broke Cross Mind Fusion. "Yes.." However the World symbol(12600/12600), had lost nothing. "Wait, that should not be.."

"That wont work either. Not anymore.." He saw it now, she had removed Siegfried the Symbol of Strength. _"By the gods, she used his effect to make Messiah unaffected by her own card effects."_ Now not even the destruction of the Fusion spell could seal it's effects. _"It is like every one of Jacksons effects was born to make this monster invincible."_ He placed one more trap card, but he would not be able to use it as long as Satan was still active. "It is over." And then she summoned something to stand with her god. "A god born of a fool, alongside a fool born of a god." She called out Loki, her Fool arcana(1200/1000). And with Ascended Soul - Genuine Bond, it evolved into Susano-o, the bloodred demon(2400/2000). And it gained 300 attackpoints for all 22 of the Persona left in her cemetery(9000/2000). ".. die.. please."

"Monster effect!" The Pharaoh discarded a card from his hand. "Effect Veiler! It negates the effect of a monster you control." A female winged spellcaster floated around Messiah. "Negation?" Not even a god could do a thing if its powers were sealed, especially when its attackpoints depended on an effect. "Then... Susano-o.." In his stead, the demon crowned with thorns struck, impaling the defending Sorceress with its spiked sword. "But at least I have sealed his attack permanently." The World(0/0) did not regain its strength, even if Effect Veiler only sealed it for one turn. It had also lost all of the persona it had sealed in its coffins. "But I can still.." She switched Messiah to defense mode. Both knew that it was still far from harmless, and the Fool now filled the role of powerhouse. Raness could not rest easy yet. "..Something does not fit." He said to himself as he drew what could be his last card. "Jane... did you ever talk to Jackson? After the first day that is.." He had to confirm a theory. "What?" She did not understand the question.

"I just want to know, if he knows about you at all." He did not think so. "You said that you loved him.. yet it seems to go just one way." The girl looked at Messiah, at the unmoving face of Jackson. "He said so.. He said we were equals.." Her voice was becoming less composed, more uncertain. "You didn't." He was right after all. "I let him live.. I helped him." She shook her head. "He made me feel.. different. If it is not love.. then what is it?" Her glare drew itself to the Pharaoh again. "Do you know? Have you felt it?" He could not answer that in a way he wanted. "I have not. But I believe you misunderstand your own emotions.." As Jane was very much just a newborn. "And you misunderstand your intentions. Replacing Arahabaki might have been a good idea, but it is made of the same darkness that threatened the entire world. I sensed it.. I now see that destroying the new Hermit might not save Jackson, but leaving it alone will certainly doom him. That is why, I will not retreat.." He placed a card on the field. "I summon Judgment Dragon."

The girls eyes widened, she recognized that card from Doe's memories. "Stop.." She immediately sent a Persona into a coffin; the symbol Mother Harlot. "Stop!" Harlots effect activated, she could discard a card from her hand to destroy all of his monsters. "That will not work.. Judgment Dragon gains priority." He could pay the 1000 LP cost before her effect destroyed the Judger. "No!" An explosion of light engulfed the entire beachfront, erasing the presence of her spells, Susano-o and her god. The image of Jackson cracked into a million pieces. "Do not...go.." Messiah faded before her eyes, leaving her with nothing but 500 lifepoints. "Now we are equals too." Raness had the same amount left. "...but you are not..you are not him." She said, her hand still stretching out to where Messiah just stood. "I did not want to compare myself to..wait." Unexpectedly, this made him come to a realization. "There might be another way.. if you let me help you." Unfortunately he chose a bad time to deliver her a proposal. "NO!"

She drew a card and immediately activated it during her draw phase. It was a quickplay spell card: The Appriser. With it she could un remove a Persona that was removed from play. "Wait, don't.." She could pick four targets, but one would be lethal to him. "Emperor." She used it to revive Polydeuces(1700/1400). "The spirit that told him who I was.. the spirit that nearly ended him. Let it end you.." There were still 23 dead symbols, the Emperor Descendant would thus inflict 2300 effect damage to him as soon as she entered her standby phase. "Jane. It does not have to end this way, I may know of a way to save you both.. at least." But she was not listening. "You can not.. fool me. Can not trick me.. If I win, I live.. If I lose.." She could not trust Raness. So she ended her draw phase. "Die." Polydeuces activated his burning effect. "Curse it!" But then he activated his trap, Nature's Reflection. "Reflect?" A monolith crashed from the sky into the sand, it was strong and sharp enough to reflect effect damage back to the enemy. "I am sorry..." Just before the 2300 damage points bounced back to her, she actually saw her own image reflected in the polished stone. "I.." And then the Emperors power splashed down on her, seemingly wasting her away.

Jane's LP: 0

_The Appriser, Quickplay Spell  
__This card's effect does not change the effect of a Persona-monster card.  
Special summon a Persona-monster card that was removed from play to your side of the field. __The monster can not be tributed._

Except divine intervention was at play here. "Wait, what just happened.." Raness saw a bright angelic figure sweep the girl away before she could suffer a defeat. "Can it be?" He looked up and saw a glowing winged entity, holding an unconscious Jane Doe in its hands. "Messiah?" It shared shapes with that of the fused symbol, but its features were covered by a luminous veil. "Or are you.." It no longer looked like Jackson, this had to be the real identity of the fused personae. "..are you the one that fragmented Jacksons mind in the first place? Are you the source behind the mirror?" The creature looked down at the Pharaoh's soul, and began to lower himself unto the beach. His presence already purified the black seas and the somber clouds. "You are correct.." It spoke at last, the voice came from his mouthless face like it was telepathy. "I am the original. I am the whole.. And I had been waiting.." He gently placed Jane down on the ground. "And now.. the fate of you, her, and the vessel.. they all lie in the palm of your hand."

"Say what?" The new commander spoke into his phone loudly, as he tended to do. "What is it this time?" Colin asked pre-emptively, figuring they'd hear it anyway. "If my sources are correct, we just lost contact with everyone in Egypt. Complete and total radio silence." He tried to connect in his own communicator, but received only static. "They are right then." The seer sighed. "The enemy must be upon them." Nero feared the worst for the men. "At this rate, they will have the Scales in no time." The armyman grumbled. Not that they were making progress on the Egyptian front. "Maybe we should have equipped them with Marcus's dueldisks, so they could at least fight back." Cleo shrugged. "But then again those Pillar-people would probably reject such a mundane duel.. And it also implies that we'd ask for _his_ help."

Speaking of Marcus, he was still busy around camp, despite being watched continuously. "Lydia wonders why you are so noisy." Madlyn approached him during one of his many 'pacing practises'. "And also she wants to know if she is going to have to testify for or against you in court." The girl smiled. "Feh. It will not come that far." He responded quickly and continued walking from left to right. "Just tell her, she will be rewarded greatly if she and you wait for the right moment." He had one more ace up his sleeve, but he could not get to it as he was now. "They will not agree with my final plan. I.. we.. have to do this on our own." And then suddenly his phone went off. "Finally!" He picked it up. "You took your time!" He snarled at whoever was on the other line. _"Do not raise your voice, Simmons. Is anyone with you?" _The mystery caller asked, with his or her voice modified. "Only those that are loyal to me." He glanced at Halliday. _"Good. If you want to escape..listen to me carefully.. if you mess this up, our contract will expire."_

"Strange." Nero looked out over the sky. _"Even if we were faster, you'd think that the guy who chased us would be here by now. If Ceasar did lose, then the ring should be theirs, and they will definitely claim it like Ka had done." _He saw the sun up high. _"Maybe they can not move as freely under a sunny sky. But yesterday was not that cloudy.." _In any case he expected an attack at any moment. However just then he heard gunshots in the distance. "What?" The others heard it too, they rushed out of their tents. "What is going on?" Colin yelled. "Is is those guys?" The commander was there too, receiving frantic reports from his men. "It appears not. But people are trying to get through the perimeter.. by force." Another shot rang. "They do not seem to listen to warning shots, sir." The Soldier on the line said. "It is like they are sleepwalking into our territory. We have to do something else.." Cleo heard this. _"Wait. This is an awful lot like.." _She gasped. "Wait. You should not shoot them! It's him, it's the power of the Millenium Rod!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 064: Abracadabra)

**New Cards used by Raness  
**Effect Veiler

-  
Swords of Revealing Light

-  
_Luminous Momentum  
_Nature's Reflection

**New Cards used by Jane Doe  
**_Messiah, Symbol of the World_

_-  
__The Appriser_


	64. Abracadabra

**New Testament 064: Abracadabra**

"The Rod.. one of those items?" The commander repeated what Nero said. "Yes. It is the one they already control. One of the enemies is actually related to an old liaison of Tum'aga, and now he.. or something that looks like him, has joined up with the Magus." Glyph had become Hieroglyph, they were still not entirely clear how that happened. "The rod has the power to control lesser minds. He has used it before, last year and just now in Germany. If my guess is correct, those people trying to break through the perimeter are actually controlled by the enemy." And that was why Nero did not want the soldiers to shoot to wound. "You should try to stun them, knock them out. They can not be controlled if they are unconscious." The commander took the communicator. "I shall put that message through. Though I fear not all of my men are equipped with stunguns or tazers." He gave them the order to switch to nonlethal fire-arms. "But then where is the real target, where is the one who is controlling these people?"

That they did not know, but it had to be close if Hieroglyph could coordinate this attack so adequately. "Gah." At many points in the perimeter, the troops were getting overwhelmed. Dozens of brainwashed citizens from neighboring villages had come to attack them, they were not stopped by pain or words. "Tsk. Stay down!" The tazer hit them many times before one gave up, while the stun guns took minutes to take effect. "We can not hold them at this rate. There's almost hundreds of them, and they keep coming!" The slaves got violent too, punching and scratching at the soldiers. Their armor could only take so much punishment. "This is insane. If he wants the Ring so damn much, why does he not come himself?" Cleo hissed. "And since when can that Rod manipulate this many at once?" Up until now the Millenium item had only taken control of one or two. "He must send this many in to tire us all our, or to drive us away. Maybe he can amplify the Rods power. Glyph has one of those anti-items too now, that small hammer."

"Hold it. That gives me an idea." Nero ran back into the tent. "Hey, that is not the way to flee." Colin yelled after him. "He is not like you, Colin. He must have a plan." Cleo snapped. Then out came Jacobus, with the Millenium Ring in his hands. "What? Dude, do not bringt that out.." Sairve was worried he planned to just hand the thing over. "Colin. Be quiet and look for a second." Nero raised the ring so everyone could see. "Hey it is.. one of the needles is moving." One of the golden needles on the ring itself pointed to the east. "It senses a nearby Millenium Item. The enemy has to be in that direction, across the perimeter." He was closer by than they thought. "I will send some men to him." The commander was about to give another order. "No wait. If you approach him with too many troops, he will get wise and retreat. Only the Ring will be able to keep track of his movements." And besides all the armymen were busy holding back the brainwashed masses. "Then what should we do?" Christine asked Nero, who already had an idea.

Meanwhile one man stayed in his tent. "Hmm." Marcus overlooked this ordeal from the sidelines, and he could not help but smile. _"This might just be the distraction I need."_

In one of the villages close to the army site, was he who started the invasion. "Heh. One more for the legion." Hieroglyph, the vampiric tin pillar, was comfortably seated at an abandoned restaurant. "Go." In one hand he held the Millenium Rod that brainwashed everyone in town, like the people dining here who rushed out like rabid animals. "Too easy." Tied around his neck was the tin hammer, which he did use to magnify the spread of the Rod. "Hmm?" However he suddenly heard a noise coming from outside, wheels grinding against the road. _"So they realized I was close by huh?"_ He looked out the windows and saw an army jeep in the distance. One of them had managed to push through the horde that surrounded the perimeter apparently. _"Well try as they might. They can not find me, not before I destroy their nest." _He saw that one of the people in the car was Cleo herself. He guessed she still felt bitter about what happened in Germany. _"Poor mortals. Your rage is misplaced.." _He got up and walked away.

"Going somewhere?"

Or at least he would have, if there had not been a man in his way. "Ho?" Nero stood in between him and the emergency exit. "I knew I'd find you here." He saw both items in his hands. "You did? Then.." Hieroglyph immediately pointed the Rod at him. However nothing happened. "Heh. So you do have it with you.." Nero halfsmiled, and pulled the Ring out of a bag around his shoulder. "Yes. You can not dominate the minds of someone who has this, can you?" Hieroglyph also produced a smile. "Clever trick. But you do not 'own' that item. I did not think a mere human would get it to work.." He saw all five needles of the ring magnetically drawn towards the Golden staff in his hand. "Well something special happened along the way. But I do not need to tell you.." He put the Ring back in the bag and took out a dueldisk. "I shall duel you instead, to get you to stop controlling innocents, and to save my friends." He came here alone, because the ring would protect only him. "All those people outside were a diversion eh? Heheh.."

Hieroglyph started laughing. "I really do not have to do this. I can take that from you by force. But I am not like the others.. at least not anymore. The past in me has given me a craving for more than just a fight to the death." He took off his robes, revealing a rather elaborate and colorful stage magician outfit. "The memories of Glyph have affected you?" He wondered how much of the old Glyph was still alive inside the new one. "Do not misunderstand. My loyalty to the Magus remains, but the inheritance of all the shadows I have tainted over the years.. this made me what I am today." He took off his hood as well and pulled out a dueldisk, a classic trick. "I accept your challenge! But you should know.." He inserted the cards into his deck, so did Nero. "Nobody lives through one of my shows. Ahahaha..."

Hieroglyphs LP: 8000 Nero's LP: 8000

"My turn! The actor initiates the play!" The Tin villain drew his sixth card. "For my first act, I will do away with the familiar. Spell card: Allure of Darkness." He drew two cards from his deck. "If I do not remove one dark-monster from my hand this turn, I have to dispose of my entire hand. But that will not be necessary." He removed from his hand, The Illusory Gentleman. "Oh! That card is.." Nero recognized it as the favorite monster of the vampire Glyph. "Indeed. But to me it has no nostalgic value. A card is a card." In place of the Gentleman, he summoned a jester. "Jester Confit(0/0). This monster can be special summoned from my hand. I then sacrifice it for Dark Magician Girl's normal summon." He tribute summoned the apprentice of the great mage(2000/1700). "Now for a rule of the show; only the host shall perform magic here!" He activated a field spell card. "Secret Village of the Spellcasters, as long as I control a spellcaster, the opponent will not be able to use spells!" Nero gasped. This meant Polymerization could not be used.

He must have remembered Nero's fusing theme. "I also activate a continuous spell: Arcane Barrier" Two mage statues arose, casting a thin veil over his side. He then ended his turn. "Damn it." He could not fuse his monsters, not unless he killed that Magical Knight first. "Elemental Hero Neos Alius." So he summoned the younger version of Neos(1900/1600), and placed a trap card behind it. "Is that all?" Since he had nothing that could kill the girl right now, he would have to try and trap him. "And..traps? I do not hand those out to my audience either." Before Nero could ask what that meant, he went into overdrive.

"I use the spell: Sage's Stone to special summon The Dark Magician to the field!" He called out the apprentice's master himself (2500/2100). "So you do still use some of Glyphs old deck." Nero noted. But the Tin Pillar flicked his finger. "No talking during the act, child. Just watch as I seal your traps.. I sacrifice both my monsters!" The black magic pair left to make room for a highlevel spellcaster that could only be special summoned by tributing two mages of level 6 and higher. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic(3200/2800)!" This was even worse news, this monster would negate all trap activations. "You hurt me first, and that is commendable. But I shall return the experience to you, with pleasure." The Sorcerer released a fierce stream of black energy that crushed Neos Alius. "I set a monster card and end my turn."

Nero's LP: 6700

It looked bad, he could use neither trap nor spell "Draw!" But lady luck must have felt bad for Nero, as she handed him a monster with an effect. "I summon E-hero Stratos." The hero of air hovered above the floor (1800/300). "Ho.." It's effect allowed a player to destroy spells and traps, one for each Hero they controlled. "I destroy the Secret Village!" The spellcaster field broke to pieces. ".." Now Nero was free to use Polymerization, and he did. "I use this spell, to fuse Stratos on the field with Elemental Hero Prisma in my hand. By combining wind and elemental, you get this!" The wind warrior fused with the prismatic one, to form a caped fighter (2800/2200). "Is this your input? I fear my ally is the superior.." The Sorcerer was still the strongest, but not for long. "This is the Hero - Great Tornado, he has the power to halve the power of his enemies upon arrival." The 'performer' was amazed to see his card weakened by strong winds (1600/2800). "Now to end the ban on traps as well! Great Tornado, slay the Dark Sorcerer!"

Hieroglyphs LP: 6800

Hieroglyph lost his powerful ally, yet he kept smiling. "Thank you, for that performance." At that time, Arcane Barrier gained a spellcounter of its own. "That card.." Nero could not tell what it did,. Nothing good he assumed. "Your move." The enemy nodded politely and drew his card. "You have survived the first act. Now begins the prelude for the true core of the tale." He summoned a new spellcaster, an armored alchemist(1200/1800). "Alchemist of Black Spells. By switching it to defense, he adds a spellcounter to a card on the field." He did so, and the Alchemist placed a second counter on the Barrier. "Your.. move."

Nero did not like this. He would probably play right into his hands if he tried to kill either his set or his face-up monster. "I summon E-Hero Flash(1100/1600)." Yet he would have to attack both, so he called out the electrical warrior to aid the Tornado hero. "A dual strike!" Thunder and wind tormented the other side of the restaurant, laying waste to the spellcasters Hieroglyph had put up. "You have much to learn." But one of them was the Apprentice Magician(400/800). When she was killed, another lv2 spellcaster would replace her in facedown defense position. "I set the Crystal Seer." And of course, since two more magicians were ended, the Barrier spell gained two more counters. "I set another card and end my turn." And now Nero would find out, what this spell actually did. "This time you were very helpful, Nero Jacobus." In his turn, he flip summoned the card that the Apprentice had put on the field. Crystal Seer(100/100) allowed a duelist to look at the top two cards on one's deck, and choose one to add to his or her hand.

"I shall reveal to you, one of my tricks.." He saw the spell he wanted and took it, the other card was returned to the bottom of his deck. "I activate the effect of Arcane Barrier. By sacrificing it, and one spellcaster under my control, I draw a card for each spellcounter on it!" He sent the barrier statues and Crystal Seer to the grave and drew four times. "!?" Now there were six cards in his hand, not a good omen at all. "As you can see, I have mastered new forms of how to play this game.." He then normal summoned the Magical Exemplar, a female conductor of earthly magic(1700/1400). "This one gains a pair of spellcounters for each spell used. And can revive magicians whose level is equal to the number of counters she sacrifices. But that is not my main draw for tonight.." He activated the card the Seer had shown him. "This is... Magical Citadel of Endymion!" The Exemplar gained two counters, while in the background an entire castle arose, shielded by rune circles from the towertop to the houses at the bottom. `What in the world..`

"This citadel.. is a spellcounters best friend. It gains a counter whenever a spell is used." And that was just one of its effects. "Now spell card: Spell Power Grasp. I can give 1 card a counter, and add another Power Grasp to my hand." He put a counter on Endymions field, while it and the Exemplar also gained counters on their own. "Next I tribute the four counters on Exemplar, to revive the level four Alchemist of Black Spells(1200/1800). Finally I use the spell card: Magicians Unite! When I have two spellcasters, they combine their power!" The earth mage took the energy from the wind mage, the spell gave her exactly three thousand attackpoints. "Farewell, hero of the wind!" She tried to vanquish Great Tornado. "Defusion!" But Nero used his instant magic to separate them back into Stratos(1800/300) and Prisma(1700/1100). "I'd advise against using the effect of Stratos.. Nero." Hieroglyph smirked as Nero was about to do just that. "What?" He held back. "Endymions citadel can save itself by tributing one of its counters." It already had four counters now due to all the spells used. "Then.." He could probably never get rid of it. "I hope you enjoy the show, Nero. This is not just Glyphs heritage on display here.. he was not even my greatest 'soul'. Aheh.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 065: Heroes of Might and Magic)

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Great Tornado  
Elemental Hero Flash

**Cards used by 'Hiero'glyph  
**Jester Lord  
Dark Magician Girl  
Sorcerer of Dark Magic  
Alchemist of Black Spells  
Crystal Seer  
Magical Exemplar

-  
Allure of Darkness  
Secret Village of Spellcasters  
Sage's Stone  
Arcane Barrier  
Magical City of Endymion  
Spell Power Grasp  
Magicians Unite


	65. Heroes of Might and Magic

**New Testament 065: Heroes of Might and Magic**

Glyphs: 6600 Nero's LP: 6700

"You see, Nero. Before I was destroyed, I managed to infect a member of the royal family with a part of my own immortal shadow. That infection had been passed down from generation to generation, until it had grown strong enough to become its own entity. The process reversed, that shadow no longer waited for a new life, it instead took other people's lifeforce to maintain its own body. Some began to believe he was a vampire.." He explained as Nero added an E-Hero to his hand with the effect of Stratos(1800/400). "That man was Glyph, wasn't it?" That was right before the hero was killed by the combined magic of Magical Exemplar(3000/1400) and Alchemist of Black Spells(1200/1800). Exemplar now had 4 spellcounters again due to the two spells used during that exchange. "Yes. That was what he named himself. He had an unexplained urge to find all the missing items, to find other special people like him. When he found the Millenium Rod that urge grew.. He was one of the few mortals alive that could build the Millenium puzzle and be a host for the Pharaoh. Unfortunately he failed the test in the World of Memories.. Because he misunderstood his purpose... Glyph tried to conquer the gods, but they only belongs to the creator."

"His place his was back in my soul.." Hieroglyph placed two cards down in the magic/trap zone, he also switched the Alchemist back to defense mode to give the Citadel one more spellcounter. "In the end he was nothing more than a dried up husk who had left some scars in people's memories. Scars that I could use, but nothing more.." He was done with his turn. "Even if it is Glyph you are talking about. I do not know if I can like such a sacrifice." Nero used the effect of E-Hero Prisma to discard E-Hero Ocean from his deck, letting the crystal hero take its name. "You used his soul all these years, and his body after his death. I approve of neither act! I activate Miracle Fusion!" He tried to fuse the Oceanic hero and Neos Alius in his cemetery. "Such compassion. But you are not using it right." The enemy flipped a counter trap, Anti Spell. He removed two of the five spellcounters on the Endymion Citadel, to negate his spell. "Gah.." The fusion was stopped, and nothing else on his field could kill the spellcasters that opposed him.

"I switch my monsters to defense, and set a trap card. That is all.." He said with reluctance. "And what do you mean with 'using it wrong'?" He asked the Tin Pillar. "You should not pity Glyph, for he is still a part of me.. Instead you should pity yourself and your friends, for having no purpose anymore." Hieroglyph activated his second Spell Power Grasp; seizing the third from his deck, while Magical Exemplar and the field spell gained two spellcounters each. "I have no purpose?" Nero asked him. "Clearly. All you ever were good for was being a vessel for Ka's fragment." He summoned a new monster, a magician naturally. "Wait.. that's a.." But Nero could see it was no ordinary magician. "Frequency Magician.. a tuner(800/400)." The stage performer chuckled. "Did you think only you could use these? Our decks adapt to the memories of our victims." The Frequency Magician could give one other monster 500 more attack until the endphase, which is what he gave to the Exemplar (2200/1400). "Now then.. what do you call it again?"

"Oh right, synchro summon!"

He tuned the level 2 Magician tuner with the level 4 Alchemist. "Come out my newest ally: Explosive Magician!" The Synchro was another armored mage, covered with white plates (2500/1800). "I can remove two spellcounters on the field to destroy a spell or a trap. Now which one do I pick.." Would he take the one Nero had set in his first turn, or the one he set just now? "The left one, I choose our newest trap!" An explosion nearly took out the card. "Then I flip it!" But Nero chained to the effect. "Alchemy Cycle, all monsters on my field lose their strength. However I can draw a card when one is destroyed!" E-Hero Flash(0/1600) and Prisma (0/1100) were weakened. "Nice trick, kid. Then let's see how you handle magic up close.." He sent Exampler and the Exploder to attack both his monsters. "You killed Flash!" The first one to die was the electric hero, but that activated its effect. "I remove three Heroes in my cemetery, and Flash himself, to reclaim one lost spell!"

Neos Alius, Ocean and Stratos were removed, as he added Miracle Fusion back to his hand. He also drew one card from his deck. "Even better. But now.." Hieroglyph flipped his own trap, Magicians Circle. "Both players can special summon a magician with less than 2000 atk, when a mage has attacked." He knew Nero had not even one spellcaster in his warrior-saturated deck, so he did not mind using this. "I special summon Maiden of Macabre." A shadowy geisha came from the pillars deck, wielding a murderers scythe (1700/0) It attacks and kills your other card." The scythe cut down Prisma. "When she kills a monster, the Maiden gains a spellcounter." And she gained 200 attack for each spellcounter (1900/0) "Hold that thought!" Nero shouted as his other trap was triggered before the Synchro could strike. "I counter with Hero Counterattack. Since you killed my monster, I can kill one of yours, and special summon a Hero from my hand." In an ironic instant the Explosive one blew up, and from his hand came Elemental Hero Neos (2500/2000). "Heh. Good.. good." Hieroglyph still did not seem to care. "Then I shall remove six spellcounters from Exemplar to revive a level 6 monster." He simply revived the Exploder.

"Draw." Nero now had three cards in his hands, including spell Flash returned. "I normal summon Aqua Dolphin(600/800)." For a second it looked like he was going to use contact fusion, but then he played Miracle Fusion instead. "I merge the dolphin, a water monster, with Prisma in my cemetery, a 'Hero' monster." He was about to call out the card he could not get out during his tagduel with Jackson. "Water and heroics, I fusion summon Absolute Zero!" It was a warrior of pure ice(2500/2000), coming to the aid of Neos. "Putting on your best show I see." Neither monster could kill Explosive Magician without getting killed themselves, and that was why.. "I have no reason to not give you my best. Absolute Zero strikes!" The zero hero trapped itself and the synchro in a block of ice, which soon shattered. "When he dies however, all your monsters will die as well!" Suddenly the Maiden and the Exemplar were impaled by the falling icicles. "Hoho..." Now he was wide open. "Neos, direct attack!" The Tin Pillar received a furious right hook

Glyphs LP: 4100

"Well well, you have some sense for flair after all." Hieroglyph barely felt the blow. "That deserves a tale. A prologue for the third and final act.. the one that begins when Endymion is ready.." During that last turn, the Citadel had gained three new spellcounters. "When you destroy a card, all of its spellcounters pass on to the magicians city. The Maiden had one, Exemplar had two because you used a spell.. now." His card had six counters total. "He comes.. I sacrifice six spellcounters on it to special summon Endymion, the Master Magician." A spellcaster(2700/1700) clad in black and purple robes appeared, there were slots for spellcounters on his outfit, his staff and a ring on his back. "Meet one of my first hosts, Nero. Or rather meet his Ka.. this is Endymion, the spirit of the priest that used the Millenium Key three millenia ago."

Nero gasped. He remembered that Mentu was the priest that always used mages for his duels. But he died before Raness became The Lord. "Puzzled? That is good..a mystery is necessary for any thinking mind. The world would not be much fun otherwise. But I can show you this.. his abilities. First, he returns one spell to my hand, if the Citadel summoned it." He took Allure of Darkness from his graveyard. "Then I can discard a spell to destroy one monster on the field!" He tossed away his last Spell Power Grasp, to remove E-Hero Neos. "Ugh." This time Nero was undefended. "Direct strike, hahaha." Endymion released a blast of magic from his staff, that zapped the duelist for an extended period. "Gaaahhh!!!" He dropped to one knee, the pain was unbearable. "It is about time to face the music, Nero.." He then used Allure of Darkness, drawing twice and removing one more dark monster from his hand. In his hand only one trap remained, which he placed facedown. "You could not save anyone..that is how your story ends.."

Nero's LP: 4000

And this was when the unusual took place, right after Nero stood up. "Huh?" His hand had fallen on the bag, and it did not let go. "That is enough, Hieroglyph." Nero spoke, but that was not his voice. "Ho? Who are you.." The enemy sensed a strange new aura from the kid. "You and I have met before.. in fact you just mentioned that." He smiled. The performers eyes widened. "What? Zevgar?!" It was the priest of the ring, the one who spoke through Jacobus before. "I get it now. You are using that human to speak for you, since his soul has already been used before. Heheh.. well it has been a while, hasn't it?" He seemed uneasy around this man, he laughed nervously. "You should not speak ill of the dead. Nor should you try to take advantage of The lords absence.." Nero drew a card. "What are you doing? Do not tell me you want to finish the game in this kids stead?" But the possessed one shook his head. "I am merely talking, he is still fighting. But he and I both want the same thing.. to remove that Magician from our sight."

Nero activated a new spell, Parallel World Fusion. "This spell takes its material from the other dimension, it fuses cards that are removed from play.. And we take five." Back to the deck went; Aqua Dolphin, Neos Alius, Neos, Stratos and Ocean. "Neo-Spacian, Neos, Elemental.. one of each, five in total..that is what it takes to form a divine warrior." The Parallel World opened up to send out Divine Neos, the godly fusion(2500/2500). "Then by removing one such component from the grave, the divine one attains its powers and more strength." Absolute Zero was removed from the cemetery, which added 500 attackpoints to the fusion already (3000/2500). "We will attack, undaunted by your trap!" The now icy god released a holy blizzard that froze Endymion completely. The master mage crumbled into diamond dust.

Glyphs LP: 3800

"Tsk. To duel you.. that is not what I intended." He said this, and Nero heard it as well. Even if he could not speak, he was wondering why Hieorglyph almost sounded affraid of this Zevgar. "It is inconsequential at any rate. My task here is done.." He suddenly turned off the dueldisk and threw it aside. "Are you leaving?" Zevgar asked him with a smirk. "You know as well as I do, only my creator has the authority to deal with a priest. Or as he calls it, the right." He turned around, putting the cloak back on and hiding his items. "We will see each other again, soon enough." He then took off, blasting through the window and flying into the sky. "Hmm.." The priests retreated back into the ring, leaving the duelist confused. "What were they talking about.." For curiosity's sake, he checked the disk Glyph had discarded. "What?" He saw the trap he had not used yet, it was Miracle Restoring. _"This card revives a Dark Magician for the cost of 2 spellcounters.. he could have used this.." _Yet he did not.. because his task here was done.. "Oh..oh no."

"They stopped?" All of the sudden all the mindless people swarming the place froze in their place. "Are they rethinking their tactics or.." And then all of them simultaenously dropped to the ground. "Okay now this I can not explain." Just when they were about to overwhelm the guards at the perimeter, they fell unconscious? "Maybe that duelist managed to find and defeat the one who was controlling them?" One of the soldiers said as he poked the bodies. "They are definitely not faking it. So now what do we do with them?" These people would probably want answers when they woke up. And a story like mass sleepwalking would not cut it. "Ugh, another near disaster, another cover-up. We will have to set up a medical facility in one of the nearby towns..say they were stricken by a disease of sorts.." If the world at large believed last years viral outbreak, they could believe this one as well. "We should be glad that they did not wake... " Just then the guards phone went off. "What is this? A message from the away team?"

"They pushed back Hieroglpyh and the other enemy retreated as well?" Minutes later both sets of good news were redirected to the main camp. "They retreated?" Madlyn asked the excited Colin who went around the area telling everyone. "Oh ehr.. it seems the film studio has been abandoned. Either we scared them off, or they had nothing left to do there." He did not even bother to question why she was only interested in the last part. "That's nice to hear." Instead he ran off to spread the word some more. Until he saw something on a table in the tent. "Hey.. is that lamp.." It was the silver lamp that Raness had been carrying around. "Is it supposed to move?" The thing was shaking violently. "Guys..." This started to worry him, he would try to stop it from moving if he was not affraid of what would happen. "Guys!!" And then the candle inside the glass lit itself on. "Oh boy.." In an instant the flames spread all over the tent, strange pure-white flames that did not burn. From the fire came the knight in silver armor; Archon was reborn.

(To be Continued in New Testament 066: Bargaining)

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

-  
Parallel World Fusion

**Cards used by 'Hiero'glyph  
**Frequency Magician  
Explosive Magician  
Maiden of Macabre  
Endymion, the Master Magician

-  
Anti Spell  
Magicians Circle


	66. Bargaining

**New Testament 066: Bargaining**

In Jacksons mind, the combination of all symbols was still speaking to the spirit of the Pharaoh. "You are.. not just any spirit. You are not Jacksons Ka." They were back at the dark void, at the diverging mental cords. "This should never have happened. This human came in contact with more then just a mirror, he found a crack in the fabric of time and space. When he found it, his mind came in contact with more knowledge and more power than the physical brain could cope with. He absorbed a part of me.." Messiah pointed at the twenty-two paths. "To survive, we had to divide his psyche. We could not pull back anymore.. he changed that day. His old name was lost, the man became Jackson Doe" So he explained. And Raness understood that, but he had one more question. "Then what are you, a spirit from the next world?" The angel shook his faceless head. "In your world, they could call me 'an angel'. I was taxed with repairing damage done to the dimensional barriers like the opening he found. Now I can return.. and so should they.."

"What about them? Will his mind be one again? Will he live?" Now the angel nodded. "It was not the presence of the shadow Jane that caused his mind to decay, not alone. I was summoned once to defeat the Dark God you call Ger. That moment and the loss of one fragment slowly sent his mind on a path to death of soul. The shadow tried to fill the hole, but she could not erase me. It was like seeing god when you have been blind up until that moment. Now that I am going.. his mind should become a whole.." Slowly the Personae started to disappear, starting with The Fool Orpheus. "However... I can not return her, the creation of darkness." Yomotsu Shikome was skipped, only the Hermit stayed behind in the void. "What can I do for her? She has grown into more than just a shadow, yet she is not a soul of her own.." If Raness were to end her after all, she could end up in the world of shadows. He did not want to send her there. "You know what you must do... And you must do it quickly. I sense the others will need you soon.."

"Wait.. What do you mean..?"

"That guy again!" The soldiers all panicked at the sight of Archon. "When did he come back?" The silver pillar had returned, appearing in their midsts. "I dont know. That lamp just blew up on its own." Colin yelled back. "But the pharaoh said that they would all regenerate over time, didn't he?" Christine now wished they had destroyed the thing after all. "..." The enemy viewed his new environment with a silent gaze. "But.. you said that he had the face of Anima. Is that true?" The knight had his helmet back on, they could not tell what was behind it. "Silence!" All of the sudden he shouted out over the noise, apparently the screams around him started to get annoying. "Bring me the host of the pharaoh, show him to me now.." He demanded, adressing no-one in particular. "We have unfinished business, his is the last item still in the light." Even Elias could hear his voice, and came out quickly before he found out what would happen otherwise. "I am here. Though I wish you weren't." He held the puzzle close to himself. "So I see.."

While all the doctors and soldiers ran around to get a grip of the situation. Two men approached the tent that Marcus had been in up until now. "We are going to pull back, come with us now Simmons." They aimed their weapons at him. "Do not make this harder than it already is.." One of the two grabbed him by the wrist. "Hey.." A wrist that felt oddly stiff and unmoving. "What the bloody hell are you.." And when he yanked it, it came off. "AH!" Both troops freaked out, until they saw what was inside the arm. "Hey hey.. are those wires?" Upon closer inspection they noticed hydraulics as well. "I do not believe it." He clubbed the face of 'Marcus' with the butt of his rifle, and knocked off a piece of skin. "It's one of those damn robots again!" Exposed was a metal endoskeleton, that sparked. "How long has this been pretending to be Simmons?" He flinched and realized who would know more. "Damn it!" He checked the tent next to his, which was also empty. "Those two girls are gone as well. How did they manage to sneak passed us?"

"Where is the Pharaoh?" Archon asked the host. "He is not available. You will have to do with me." The host replied with a tone that amused the enemy. "You speak with less fear than before. Do you think your new friend will come to save you at the last possible moment?" Though Elias had no answer for that, some friends did return to the camp at that time. "Nero, Cleo!" The jeep returned from the town. "Gah. When did that bastard show up?" Cleo was less than thrilled to see him. "I feared this could happen." Nero said, not having forgotten Hieroglyphs ominous warning. "You guys would have been better off staying away." Colin sighed. "You.. are here.." The Silver Pillar looked at the new arrivals. "But I have no business with any of you. My mission only involves the Pharaoh!" He raised his hand, preparing a rune spell. "Silver servant!" Yet Nero changed voices once more, holding the Millennium Ring in his hand. "Who?" He did not expect that, he thought the Tin Pillar would have claimed it by now. "Leave them alone.."

Suddenly a beam shot out of the Ring. "Whoa!" Everyone ducked, and the energy hit Archon straight in the head. "Gghk!" As soon as he was hit, the knight froze up like a statue. "Huh?" Nero blinked, he was back in control. "Did that Zevgar guy just possess you again?" Cleo asked him. "Yes. That's twice in one hour too.." He would have complained, if it did not turn out to be so helpful. "Hey people, he is not moving.." Elias said to everyone. "Maybe.." Rose then approached the pillar. "Christine, what are you doing!" Colin screamed as she placed her hands on the silver helmet. "I must know.. I have to see his face.."

"This place.." Archon, the spirit of Archon, reappeared inside a labyrinth of escherian proportion. Stairs were on the ceiling, doors in the floor. Every corner seemed to loop into itself. "The inside of the ring. This is where you have been sleeping, priest?" He looked at Zevgar, in his true appearance. He was a bearded egyptian man, holding the ring around his neck. "Better than you, Pillar." He smirked. "I drew you in here, with the power of the Ring. So that you could not hurt others." He could use the powers of the ring, even if the dark side had won it in a game. "Then.. to get out. I suppose I must crush you.." He manifested a dueldisk. Zevgar did the same. "I had been hoping to use my renewed powers on The Lord Raness. But his most trusted priest will do.." They drew cards. "But If I win.. you will never leave, Archon.."

Archons LP: 8000 Zevgars LP: 8000

"Spell card: Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen." Archon started the mental duel, drawing six cards and playing the godly spell first. "I special summon one angel from my hand, when no monsters are on my field. I choose Valkyrie Dritt." The redhaired valkyrie flew into the Hall. "Then I sacrifice her, to special tribute summon Yeshua!" His next card was not like the ones he used before, it was a spellcaster with white hair and blue/white robes who held a cane as a wand (2400/2200). "I see you have added new Ka's to your collection. Or are you returning to your roots, Archon? At any rate.." Suddenly a small bug with leaf wings appeared on the field. "Your normal summon allowed me this; the special summon of Naturia Cosmos Beet(1000/700)." Yeshua could not attack this turn, so the Nature tuner could not be killed. "... set trap card..."

Yeshua, 7/2400/2200 Light/Spellcaster  
This card can not be special summoned. This card can be normal summoned with one tribute, if the tributed monster card is a light-type.  
As long as this card remains face up on the field, whenever a light-warrior destroys a monster as a result of battle, you gain life points equal to half of the destroyed monsters atk.

"You changed your deck as well." He said before he passed the turn to Zevgar. "Indeed. As the priest of the ring, I inherited the dragons of Osiris. But over the millennia, I received the task of shepherding the Ka of nature itself.." He discarded from his hand, a Puppet Plant. "When I discard this, I gain control of your monster.." Yeshua walked over to Zevgars side. "I strike!" The priest now charged his own master. "Fool.." But Archon flipped his always annoying counter trap: Wodans Judgment. "The battle has ended already." Yeshua was pushed back, they had moved on to main phase 2. "That was what I was waiting for however!" From the tiles on the floor sprouted a new plant. "When a trap is activated, I can discard the top card from my deck, to special summon Naturia Rock from my hand." Beneath that little flower was a living mobile rock monster(1200/1200). "Next, when a Naturia monster has his effect activated, I can special summon Hydrangea from my hand." Another plant appeared, a trio of purple flowers (1900/2000).

"I have not yet normal summoned. So I tribute The Rock, to tribute summon Bamboo-shoot." The clump of earth was replaced with a bamboo seedling(2000/2000). "What?" And already it entangled Archons Valhalla with its vines. "When it's summon used a Naturia monster as a tribute, my opponent can not activate traps or spells." This was the power of Nature, to seal off effects entirely. There was one more step to make. "Now. Synchro summon!" To Archons surprise, the level 2 beetle and the level 5 hydra plant sank into the ceiling. Then from a nearby wall the Synchro surfaced, a gigantic land turtle with a small forest on its shell. "I see. One of the great four, the chinese Ka." It was Naturia Landoise(2350/1600), a monster that negated another monster effects at the cost of a spell. "Now I have blocked off your traps, your spells, and your spirits. You are locked in, Archon." He ended his turn, leaving one spell in his hand just in case. And the card he discarded was Naturia Gardna, a card he could remove to keep Bamboo-shoot alive.

Naturia Gardna, 3/0/1600 Earth/Rock  
During a battle phase you can remove from play this card from your graveyard to prevent 1 Naturia-monsters you control from being destroyed by battle.

"Indeed. You are what I expect from a priest. The old me would not have won here..But.." Archon drew another card, Yeshua returned to his side of the field because the Puppet Plant's effect lasted only one turn. "However. What if I were to summon something that can not be negated, something that is beyond your spirits." He activated a spell card, despite the limit on spells. "What if I happened to have a few cards who can be put on the field under any circumstances?" He played another, both were continuous spells. "What are you.." Zevgar was stunned, he broke through his lock with ease. "The conditions are set, I will show you the gift Ka has given me. The spirit that will kill the Pharaoh himself." He was about to special summon the last card in his hand. "Who are you to stand up to the godslayer?"

Back in the real world, Nero received a shock. "Gah." He dropped the ring to the floor, where it lay spasming and sparking. "What is wrong?" Rose said, standing too close to the enemy for comfort. "You.." She flinched as a voice came from the one who had been silent until now. "He is baaack!" Colin gasped and backed away. "We should have shot him through the head while we had a chance." Though they tried that when he was still moving, and none of the bullets injured him. "You can not hurt me through physical means. I already told you.. I am immortal." Archon touched his own face. "Why did you remove my helmet. Is it to ascertain my humanity?" He asked the girl that held his helmet. "You.. you do not know? You look like him, like Anima.." She did not understand how Anima could have ended up like this. "That is the second time you speak that name. It has no meaning.. What you call me, is nothing more than a failed shadow.." With a simple gesture he pulled the helm from her arms, catching it with his hand.

"Your new friend failed. He could not contain me in his home, and now I have erased his link to your world. Only one threat remains.." He said to Nero before he focused on Elias. "I already said that the Pharaoh is not here. And.." Yet as he said one thing, the opposite happened. "What? He is.." The symbol of the eye appeared on the students forehead once more, as the spirit of Raness returned to the puzzle owner. "He is back too, hurray!" Raness looked at Archon and the ring on the floor. "What did you do?" Zevgar's presence, he could no longer sense it. "What I told them. I purged the part of his spirit that he hid inside the Ring. Now it truthfully belongs to us." Meanwhile in the background another person joined the scene. "Jack?" Doe came from the tent, looking too dazed to stand up straight. "He did save you after all?" Cleo was glad to see it. But now was not the time to show such emotions, or have them. "Silver Pillar. Do you wish to duel me again?" The spirit inquired, thinking that this was not the place for it.

"That time has ended, my mission has changed. I am here to deliver an ultimatum." He made a wide circular motion with his hand. "Hit the deck again!" It was not an attack like Colin expected, the round rune pattern instead cut it's way into the very air. "You have got to be kidding me.. is that.." They saw into it, into the hole that lead to another world. "Sand.. pyramids.. that is Egypt?" He had created a portal halfway across the globe. "My creator waits for you on the other side, to finish this conflict once and for all. He wished to duel you for the rights of the Puzzle, the last item he needs to finish the ritual." This indicated that one of them had already located the Millennium Scales in that country. "What if we refuse?" Cleo asked quickly. "Then the life of your friend is forfeit to our ends." The duelists shivered, there was only one friend they could be talking about. "William Carter. He has returned to this world, but his life is in our hands. If you do not follow through this gate. We will send his soul to a place even worse than the shadow-world.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 067: Home, sweet Home)

**New Cards used by Archon/Anima  
**_Yeshua_

**Cards used by Zevgar  
**Naturia Cosmos Beet  
Puppet Plant  
Naturia Rock  
Naturia Hydrangea  
Naturia Bamboo-Shoot  
Naturia Landoise  
_Naturia Gardna_


	67. Home sweet Home

**New Testament 067: Home, sweet Home**

"William.. is alive?" They could not believe it, the enemy had to be bluffing. But then why would they give them good news deliberately? "Whether or not you choose to accept the story is of no relevance. Even if he were not, his body is still in our possession. It would be the simplest of feats to cut his throat and ensure the death of his body.." That way Carter could never return to the living. "So we have no choice.. how does this portal even work?" Colin did not trust anything that could break the laws of reality. "And if you people could use such tricks all this time, why do you need to fly aroufspind?" He asked in addition. "This rune only opens a hole to the location of another Pillar. The Mercury Pillar had already returned to the homeland before the Creator followed." Now only Archon and Hieroglyph remained in England. "I see. The Magus can use all the powers of his underlings, so he can make these gates as well." Jackson repeated what Ka had told him the night before. "But if he demands to see the Pharaoh, why did he set a trap for him?"

Archon looked at the symbolist for one second. "The Millennium Key was used on you, Jackson Doe. To keep The Lord away until I could regenerate, and to allow the Tin Pillar to control the cities around you." But he saw that Hieroglyph had failed to claim the ring. ".. because my puzzle could have freed them from the spell. That was why I had to go.." Raness answered. "A good thing then, that I managed to survive. So I could heed your masters call." He smiled faintly. "I will not hide, I shall face anyone waiting for me on the other side." The silver knight nodded. "Then you will be received, you and any other that try to lend a hand." He started to walk through the portal, putting his helmet back on. "This doorway closes in the next seven minutes. You have until that time to prepare.. you have until then to save the life of your friend. Oh and before I forget.." With a mental command, he removed the Millennium Ring from the floor and drew it into his gauntlet. "The sixth is already ours. Yours is all that remains.." He disappeared into the Egyptian desert.

"Are you serious?" Cleo yelled at him once Archon was no longer around. "This is a trap like you can not believe! Anyone dumb enough to walk through that thing is asking to be killed." The expressions of Colin in the background showed that he agreed. "I know that, he knows that." Nero came in between. "But if we do nothing, they certainly will kill William. And I refuse to let that happen.." He had already failed Will once, he would not do it again. "I don't want to see that happen either." Christine said softly. "Tsk. I would not go in there unprepared. The teams we sent to Egypt have not responded so far, we can assume they have all been eliminated." The commander also needed to keep his men here to help all the unconscious villagers sprawled around the perimeter. "That and the fact that Marcus escaped. I would much rather pursue someone I know we can handle." Jackson flinched. "What, Simmons got away.. again?" This was getting repetitive. "I can not explain how or why, not in the few minutes that are left. You can go if you wish, but my men stay here.." He and several soldiers headed for the tents. "Okay, we do not all have to go. Nor can we leave Marcus alone.. he knows too much." Doe was ready to chase after him as well.

"To go after him might not be wise... Don't you feel different, Jackson?" Raness was concerned about the symbolists state of mind. "No..why?" Jackson however seemed to act like nothing had happened since he woke up. "Ehrm.. I think it would be best if you stay with me. There are things I need to tell you. And I do not know if I will return from this.." That did not sound inviting for others. "You do not have to come however, nor do the rest of you. This is my battle." Regardless Nero stepped up. "I already said how I feel about this; I must save Carter." And surprisingly Colin joined his side. "I will go too." He said nervously. "What? Is that a joke?" Cleo had a hard taking him serious. "I have my reasons... Most of which stem from the fact that I feel safer the closer I am to the one that summon a freakin' god." So he claimed, and the Pharaoh did not mind. "So be it. We shall go, the others will deal with Marcus" The four stepped into the gate. "I almost feel like I am being discriminated against.." Cleo said as she and Christine stayed behind. "But, if there is someone that dislikes Marcus besides Jackson. It'd be me.." She shrugged. "Good luck." Rose told the four as the gate started to close. "You too." Nero replied.. and then they were gone.

After that, the two girls headed to the tent Marcus was last seen. "Okay then. Can anyone tell me how the hell you let him get away?" And there she saw it. "Is that a.." The machine that wore the face of Simmons. "Oh for the love of deus ex machina." He had pulled the oldest trick in the book. "We did not see it coming, we were to busy holding back the mind controlled swarm." A soldier explained and pointed at a suitcase under the bed. "We believe it snuck in disguised as one of us, wearing our fatigues. We did not bother to look at every face due to all the chaos." They poked the fake skin around the exposed metal. "Madlyn and Lydia are gone too?" Christine suddenly noticed an absence of apprentices. "They got out the same way. That case must have held more army uniforms. When we were not looking, this thing switched with Simmons. Pretended to sleep in his bed." They had never seen such an advanced android before. "Tsk. These must be made from the same material as those Orichalcos dueling droids. And the old Kartel member had some left apparently." Though how he set all this up was a mystery. "Where will he go now though?" There were not many places to run towards. "Wait... I think I know where." Rose smiled.

Meanwhile, on a whole different continent. "Whoah." They landed in the sand, some face-first. "Pff.. some welcome." They were in the middle of the desert, not a river or palmtree in sight. "Good thing I brought this." Colin took out an oversized water bottle from his coat, and began drinking. "Should we not conserve?" Jackson said calmly. "I will share some, don't worry." He stood up, as did the others. "So this is Egypt. This is where you were born..." It did not feel the like their experience in the Memory World, which might have been due to the spiritual nature of that journey and the physical nature of this one. "Well it is too late to go back now." Nero said as the portal closed behind them. "There is only one way to go now." They looked ahead and saw a pyramid. "So.. ehrm.. how do we find them?" It was not exactly easy to scour such a construct. "Pharaoh." However now Doe took the time to bring up a question. "We were pressed for time before, but now I feel I should ask. What did happen.. that I was not aware off?"

"Jackson. Has anything changed? Do you feel or think in any other way?" Raness inquired quickly. "I may have spoken to soon earlier. I do not feel different, but I know something is new.. You see." He extended his hand. "My body.. responds not how I envision it to. Like it is not yet adapted to my nerves.. And my memories are conflicting." Nero picked up on something in his speech. "Wait.. 'my'?" Jackson was not talking in plural at all anymore. "You perceive no coincidence. It is true.. my mind is no longer fractured." The two duelists gasped. "You mean you dont have a massive split personality going on anymore?" Doe shook his head. "I can not remember such a mindset, I can not even conceive how it felt to me. I only remember that I was once not like I am now. I think only for me, I have no more spirits in my mind. In the end they were all just symbols for my own soul.." He looked at Raness again. "You did this.. to save me. But now I wonder.. what did you see inside. What did you come to learn?"

"That is not an easy thing to answer, I myself still do not fully comprehend. But I can say that I encountered the spirit responsible for your condition, his knowledge and power were the cause of your personality break. And now he has left." That was as far as he knew. "But there was another.. you also remember a Jane Doe, do you not?" Doe twitched. "Indeed I do." He now figured that she was the one who had made Yomotsu Shikome. "What did you do with her?" He had to know; if she was not in his mind, where was she now? "I am affraid I could not bring myself to banish her, her consciousness has developed beyond what Ger had set out to make." He held up the Puzzle. "I placed her inside my home. There she rests like I once did." He had realized that it was possible for any spirit to survive inside a Millennium Item. "For the time being that should be enough. If I have dealt with Ka.. I can focus on her." Of course if he lost to Ka, the Puzzle would belong to the Magus. But in that case every soul was doomed anyway..

"You are home.."

"Huh?" The four looked up and saw a figure floating in the sky. "The welcoming party I presume?" It was the one Raness recognized as the Mercury Pillar; Fatimah. The others had not encountered her yet. "Now you can go my way." The lady with hidden eyes turned around and pointed to the pyramid. "There.. inside.." Before anyone could ask if she could be any clearer, the woman produced her hourglass. "I will share some.. do not worry." She turned over the hourglass to do something they could barely accept was actually happening. "Dude." The sand itself literally parted away, much like a red sea would do for Moses. A straight line was cut into the desert, leading all the way into the side of the pyramid. "That place?" It lead to an opening in the side of a wall, an opening normally buried ten foot deep. "There 'he' is."

Fatimah floated downwards and slipped into the shadows within the wall. "Ugh.." Raness held his forehead. "I remember now.." Parts of his past flooded back. "This part of the desert.. this pyramid. It was a tomb for one of my predecessors. This had to be where they buried the Millennium Scales, after my death." The pain subsided. "I guess having seen its real current size has made it easier to remember." They started walking into the sand tunnel, assuming the trap was not shaped like death by sand suffocation. "If they wanted to ambush us, they would have struck while we were talking about Doe." Nero claimed. "Nevertheless, we should be ready for anything. The Magus has agreed to a duel, but he will be ready to exploit any weakness we might show." They were almost at the doorway. "To duel her is not going to be easy, he has the power of the Millennium Eye..." The eye that could see into one's mind. "There is more." Doe suddenly said. "Ka has one more power.." Just before the sand collapsed behind them, sealing them inside.

"You guessed right." The commander put down his phone. "Our men saw activity at the abandoned film studio, and a jeep that was reported missing parked not to far from there. That was their last report.." He cursed. If only he had put out a warning for soldiers in disguise earlier, he thought. "So back to his old lair eh? I doubt he is just after the machinemen he left behind. There must be something else.." For one thing, who sent the android in the first place. Sure Ceasar and Prospero were MIA, but neither of them seemed like the type to set up such a plan. "We will soon be there in the flesh to ask him."

And indeed, Marcus was back where he wanted to be, taking the elevator to the lower sections of his base. "You still have not told us what the hell you are going to do now, teacher." Lydia said, clearly not that confident in his abilities anymore. "Why do we need to go back here, they will obviously look here first." Marcus however just smiled. "Your patience will be rewarded my apprentices. You will not regret following me." The lift stopped, they ended up in a dark area. "I have never seen this place before.." Madlyn said as they stepped into this new sublevel. "Of course. This was to be my last resort. My ally on the other side of the world helped me set this up, away from the eyes of the government." He walked over to a computer set up in a corner. "What is it for then?" Lydia looked around, seeing nothing but wires and coolers. "This is where I stashed the most important remnant of Tum'aga. The thing I wanted to hide the most." He turned the computer on. "This, my dears, is the terminal with direct access.. to the Orichalcos satellites.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 068: Old Wounds)


	68. Old Wounds

**New Testament 068: Old Wounds**

"So an Egyptian dungeon.. I suppose there will be many traps or tricks to this place." Colin tried to see through the darkness of the pyramid tunnels. "I would not know. It is not customary for a Pharaoh to visit the tombs of his predecessors." And even if there were any traps, they could not have been in that fine shape after 3000 years. "Follow me anyway." He could lead if only because his eyes were better adjusted to shadows like these. "The only trap we have to worry about is the one those Pillars have set out for us." Nero said. "Can you sense them anywhere?" He asked the Pharaoh, who shook his head. "They are further down. I do not see what Ka hopes to do by delaying our confrontation. His actions on a lighter scale have never made much sense to me or the other priests. Even with more memories returning, I can not understand what corrupted him in the first place." Raness had a feeling he'd soon find out.

Meanwhile deep underneath a tv-show studio.

"The satellites? They still exist?" Lydia did not like the sound of that at all. "Most were decommissioned after the downfall of Tum'aga. But one of them was bought over by a rivaling company.. the same company whose CEO has become my new liaison." Marcus smirked. "So that was why.." Now Blackstone understood what the teacher had promised to share, in return for a life out of prison. "So you can still do that soulstealing thing with it?" Madlyn asked casually. "Indeed. From here I can direct the satellite to go anywhere and any place. I can not think of a better way to get rid of our enemies, then to suck their souls right up into space.." But before he could get into the control systems, a nearby red light started flashing. "Tsk." It was the proximity alarm. "Our friends are here already. Too soon for my liking.."

Up above, the soldiers made quick work of the few machineman that were still guarding the studio building. "That should be the last of them." They were not built to stand up to conventional weaponry, it seemed the last few were more or less rush-jobs. "I am beginning to wonder if we had to come along at all." Cleo said as she inspected the wrecked droids. "There will be a reason..pretty soon I imagine." Christine did not expect Marcus to go down without a fight, or a duel. "We have scoped out this floor sir. Nothing is in here." There was only place where he could be now. "Right, let's go to the elevator." However their idea was already taken by someone else. "Huh?" As the elevator doors opened before they could access the control panel. "Who is in there!?" One soldier asked loudly. The answer he got was not quite conventional.

"Hi." Out came a dozen thorned vines, assailing at the soldiers and grabbing them by the arm of legs. "Madlyn!" The duelists recognized this handywork, and from the lift came the flower girl herself. "What is this, a hologram?" One soldier struggled to get free, to no avail. "Not really, it is so much more." She raised her arm and showed off her dueldisk. "You can not pass." It was the type that Christine unfortunately knew all too well. "The armor-class?" One of the men was still mobile enough to aim his gun at her. "You want to shoot me?" She asked relaxedly. "If it comes to that I shall, but I can also just shoot down the device. You are the one that has to step aside." He fired a warning shot. "I can not have that." Yet more vines were summoned, a mass that intercepted the bullet. "Damn it!" Then the new batch of tentacles lashed out at all the guns, crushing and breaking their weaponry. "You should not under-estimate.." But then all her plants were cut down in one swoop. "You do not know what you are doing." Christine said.

"Oh?" She had somehow called forth a sword that slashed through every vine at once. "This is not the time and place for your games, Madlyn. The world is in danger, and we can not have you or your teacher running around making things worse." But Halliday was not listening to her words. "I see. Even if your dueldisk is not of the same class, the energy forms it create can still disrupt my own." She was too intrigued by Rose's actions. "But I already said I will not let you pass. Teacher is going to save the world his own way." Behind her the doors were already closing, the lift compartment moved downwards. "You are just stalling for time." Cleo hissed. "We can still climb down the shaft. You can not stop all of us." The soldier grumbled. "Yes. You know what you really want. You want to duel one of us, don't you?" Christine said, and this time the apprentice did listen. "A proposal? You want to face me again.. flowery Rose?" She smiled. "It is apparently the only thing you understand." Christine replied. "So..let's do this."

Christine's LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 8000

"I accept." Both girls readied themselves, shuffling their cards. "I wont stop you." Cleo said from the sidelines. "Nor shall we." The men started to get out their gear and began to descend. "Then by all means." Madlyn drew five cards, indicating she would not start off. "You want to make the first attack again." It was just like last time. "And you shall defend again. Wont you?" Christine could not argue that. Her hand had mostly defensive cards. "I will summon the Card Blocker (400/400) in defense mode. Then I place one card face-down." It only made sense to not leave yourself open before you could make counterattacks. "So dull. I want to do pain, I can not do that if you run and hide.." She took a spell from her hand. "Well. At the very least I can make it a nicer place to cower.. Spell card, World Tree!" The floor started shaking. "Now what?"

From the ground the image of a small tree sprouted, and this tree soon grew to an immense size. "Impossible!" It's progress did not stop even when it hit the ceiling, it blew right through it. "The energy is too much for it?" Finally her tree reached a limit, but the roof of the studio was torn to shreds. "Impressive, you must admit." Madlyn quickly followed up on this demonstration of virtual power, by summoning a Lonefire Blossom. "Not again." She sacrificed the fire flower to special summon a second, and the second summoned a third. "Now, sacrifice Lonefire for Tytannial." The last Blossom made room for the Camellia Princess(2800/2600). "She attacks your Blocker.. naturally." Tytannial unleashed a stream of rose petals. "Then I will shield myself with Card Blocker's effect." She discarded three cards from the top of her deck, to boost the warriors defense (400/1900). "Not enough!" The attack hit dead on. "And then I remove Shield Warrior in my graveyard, to negate destruction through battle!" Yet her monster endured it all.

"Shield Warrior?" Madlyn had missed the moment when that hit the cemetery. "Oh.. one of the three cards discarded." She laughed and ended her battle phase. "Of course I could have used the princess to block your blocker's ability. But then I would be the one with nowhere to hide." The flower girl placed two trap cards. "I won't have to hide much longer." Christine countered and drew her next card. _"Tsk. Spoke to soon."_ Unfortunately for her, the cards in her hand were not strong enough to kill Tytannial. "I set one monster face down and end my turn." For now Madlyn's taunts would remain unchallenged.

"Hmph. You know what happens to little girls that run, don't you?" She drew again, placing another trap down. "In the end they can not escape their monsters. And now it it time for you to have a second meeting with yours" She summoned a tuner-monster, the one she used during their last duel. "Twilight Rose Knight(1000/1000)." When normal summoned the level 3 Rose Knight could use his effect to special summon a plant from her hand. "I special summon Revival Rose." A threeheaded and three-eyed Rose sprouted on the side of the big tree (1300/1300), it's level was 4. "That is seven levels." What came next surprised neither duelist. "Synchro Summon." The Knight tuned with the Revival-plant, and out came the demonic dragon. "Black Rose Dragon(2400/1800). The monster that vanquished Nero and helped me crush you." Halliday was ecstatic. "It is time to hit where it hurts! I remove a plant from the graveyard!" The dragon was fed one of the Lonefire Blossoms, so it could use its restricting vines on the set card. "What have we today?!"

It was a card she had not seen before, a legless hovering warrior(0/1900). "Ghost Gardna? Interesting." It's attack was already at zero, but now she could hurt his owner by killing it. "But first your last true defense." The synchro released a flare at Card Blocker. "Not so fast!" Instead the fire hit the ghoulish Guarder who jumped in the way. "Whenever you attack, Gardna takes the blow first!" It was burned to a crisp. "Trap card!" At this point she flipped Ivy Shackles, the continuous trap that transformed all of Christine's monsters into plants outside of her turn. _"Why did she do that?" _Cleo did not see any benefits. "Wait." Except for a strangely colored leaf that grew on one of the World Tree's branches. "A counter?" It appeared as soon as Gardna was destroyed. "But now his effect activates." Rose pointed to Tytannial. "Ghost Gardna takes away 1000 attackpoints, from a monster." The princess suddenly grew weaker (1800/2600). "Now you can not attack and destroy Card Blocker." Allthough this weakening was only temporary.

Christine's LP: 5600

"Hmm. If that's how you want to play.." The apprentice looked at one card in her hand and smiled. "Black Garden it is.." She played the field that sent black thorns all over the dueling field. "Christine!" Cleo could not even see the two anymore. "You stick to the same games, Madlyn." Rose drew her next card. "That suits me.. It makes it easier to predict what cards I should use... I sacrifice Card Blocker for Amanda Baker!" A female warrior(2200/2100) was summoned, and already the Garden responded by spawning a rose-token(800/800) and sending thorned vines to half Amanda's attack. "But when she is summoned, Amanda can destroy an effect used against her!" She released an aura of energy that started to eat away at the field. "Then I will use the Camellia!" Madlyn countered by sacrificing the token, so Tytannial could destroy Amanda herself. "Then 'I' will activate the quickplay spell: My Body as a Shield, from my hand!" And Rose countered the counter; she payed 1500 LP to deflect the effect back to its caster. "Farewell, princess."

Christine's LP: 4100

Both the Black Garden and the strongest plant were wiped out. "Oh?" Caine could see the duelists again as well. "Nice, very nice. But when you kill a plant of level 5 and higher, I can bring Revival Rose back to life." The undying rose(1300/1300) germinated from the remains of Tytannial. At the same time the World Tree received a second counter. "I do not care how many plants you toss my way. I will not hold back in fear, not anymore!" Amanda could not kill the Dragon, but she could attack the plant. Her sword was about to hit the middle rose head. "Wall of Thorns." But her enemy casually activated her Mirror Force-like trap. When a plant was attacked, all attacking monsters would die. "Gah!" She did not count on that. "You still have not hurt me yet.. Rose.." Madlyn entered her turn. "Tsk. Why are you stifll so obsessed with pain? I thought you'd have snapped out of that after those shadows attacked you.. in this very place." Cleo snapped at her. "Oh really now Caine... You did not stop seeking duels after all the things you have seen, did you?"

Cleo could not say no to that. "In fact you both have experienced worse than me.. That makes a girl jealous." She sighed. "My antagonist was.. gentle.. boring.. Like you are now, Christine." She sacrificed the Revival Rose to bring out Gigaplant(2400/1200). "Are you comparing me to those people?" Rose asked tensely. "Perhaps. You share one trait.." She sent both Gigaplant and Black Rose Dragon to attack directly. "You are against me!" Gritting her teeth, Christine flipped her trap to save herself. "Snipers Backup! I negate one attack and special summon Kyle Baxter from my hand." The Black Rose flare dispersed against an invisible forcefield, and the Venus flytrap had to swallow a Sniper warrior (1200/2000) who came out afterwards and had been shackled by the Ivy trap. "Three counters.." Both Halliday and Caine counted the number of special leaves on the branches. _"Not yet."_ But she chose to end her turn instead, after placing one more card facedown. "I am not like them. But.. I can give you the pain you seem to desire so much.."

Rose drew, played Pot of Avarice to send five monsters back into her deck, and added two more cards to her hand. One of which she set facedown. "Zane Baker." Then she called out the youngest son of the Baker family(1800/1900). "And spell card: Kataryken Power!" Which she immediately powered up, Zane now too attained the radiant Kataryken form(2800/2900). "Here it is! Your desire" Zane released a beam of energy headed towards the Gemini plant. "You still can not deliver, flowery Rose!" Madlyn had other plans, she flipped her quickplay spell: Raging Mad Plants. All plants on the field gained 300 attack for each plant in the graveyard. "You'll only hurt yourself!" Gigaplant strengthened itself for all four dead plants (3600/1200), and devoured the blast entirely. "No I shall not. Because I know what I am doing! You are the one who is wrong!" She however played the spell Half Shut from her hand. "This halves the attackpoints of your Gigaplant!" Before the monster could retaliate, it shrunk(1800/1200) and the energy exploded in its mouth. "Are you happy now?" She shouted. "Happy?" Madlyn repeated the word with mild amusement. "Starting to be.. heehee...."

Madlyns LP: 7000

_Kataryken Zane Baker, 8/2800/2900 Light/Warrior  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Kataryken Power'.  
__If this card is in face-up attack mode, your opponent cannot target other monsters on your field for an attack or a card effect.  
__When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon 1 'Zane Baker' from your hand, deck or graveyard._

(To be Continued in New Testament 069: No Rose without Thorns)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**Ghost Gardna  
_Kataryken Zane Baker_

-  
Half Shut

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Revival Rose

-  
World Tree  
Raging Mad Plants

-  
Wall of Thorns


	69. No Rose without Thorns

**New Testament 069: No Rose without Thorns**

"Clear!" The soldier shouted as he found the empty basement level, the one they knew about. "Are you sure?" Another asked. "There should at least be someone down here, right? Where is Marcus if he is not here?" The first trooper shrugged. "There may be a hidden area, we need to check the area thoroughly." The rest all came out of the forced open elevator compartment, having climbed down the shaft. "Whatever you do.. be careful that.." But then the leader of the group collapsed. "What the?" He appeared to be sleeping. "What happ.. it's gas!" They smelled it now. "Everyone move.. mo.." But it was too late.

Marcus was one floor lower, and watched what happened up stairs through a small monitor. "Heh. That will keep them out of my hair." He saw one fall down after the other, all succumbing to the sleeping gas he had spread throughout his lab. "Since when did we have that?" Lydia sounded concerned, if only for her own sake. "Another leftover from my old friend Cadron." That Kartel member was fond of biochemical warfare. "Don't tell me that _he_ is your mysterious ally." She asked dryly. "Of course not. His body went down with Atlantis, his soul with the Great Serpent. No my benefactor is someone I have never met in person.." He focused on another screen, changing the subject. "Madlyn seems to be doing well, for someone who rushed upstairs without a plan." He chuckled. "That girl deserves the first three letters of her name, if you ask me.."

Madlyns LP: 7000 Christine's LP: 4100

"Looks like you are going to have to hit her again to get through to her." Cleo sighed. "Seems like it.." Rose had finally taken some of her LP away. However her spell Half Shut, which halved Gigaplants attack, also made it unkillable in battle. "But a monster boosted by Raging Mad Plants will die in the endphase anyway." The venus flytrap(1800/1200) shriveled into a lifeless husk. "Aha, but remember this card?" From the wilted plant came three rose flowers. "When a level 5 or higher plant dies, Revival Rose(1300/1300) returns." And now it was her turn. "My tree has four counters now. I gets one whenever one plant on the field dies." The fourth appeared when Gigaplant was destroyed. "By sacrificing one counter, a plant gains more power. Three counters will revive a plant.. but two.." Without warning two leaves from the World Tree shot out towards Kataryken Zane and cut him to death. ".. will be enough to end lives." And because Zane had been turned into a plant by Ivy Shackles, one new counter was added to her continuous spell.

"But when Kataryken Zane is destroyed, his normal form returns!" The regular Zane(1800/1900) appeared, just before ivy tentacles turned him into a plant-type and two more counter leaves slashed him down. "Oops, he died too..." Halliday laughed. "Soul Rope!" But Rose then activated her trap card in response. "I pay 1000 LP to summon a lv4 monster from my deck." To the field came a young blonde girl in armor(1500/1100), in attack mode. "You should stop trying and hurting yourself Flowery Rose." She too was targeted by World Tree, however. "What?" The leaves bounced off her shield. "Lily Baker. She can not be harmed by effects during the turn she appears. She takes this effect from her mother Amanda.." Christine explained with a smile. "Hmph. I do not care about those cards and their stories..." If she could not kill them with card effects, she would just crush them with sheer brute strength. "That is not real.. this is." Black Rose Dragon(2400/1800) burned Lily to a crisp, while Revival Rose attacked the duelist directly.

Rose's LP: 900

_Lily Baker, 4/1500/1100 Light/Warrior  
__This card is unaffected by your opponents card effects during the turn that it is summoned._

"Ghk.." The attack of the Rose had cut her at several spots. "Geez.. that actually drew blood." Cleo was disgusted to think Marcus would even make such a device. "It is okay Cleo." Rose wiped her face. "Now I will repay her... I draw!" Her next card was a spell. "I activate this card: Monster Reborn!" From the graveyard she revived Kataryken Zane Baker(2800/2900). "Oh!" Madlyn did not expect to see it return already. And she had no traps left. "You may go for the pain, but I will instead go for those who deliver it!" She decided to target the bigger threat, Zane fired a beam of energy at the synchro dragon. "You think I am the villain here? How cute.." She discarded a card from her hand, just as the dragon was torn to shreds. "You can not win if you are that naïve, you will not even beat this one monster!" Yet Black Rose regenerated slowly, and its attackpoints were reduced (1200/1800). "Hedge Guard. When I discard this from my hand, a monster that died in battle will return." And during the endphase it's power rose back to 2400.

Madlyns LP: 6600

"Did you just lose a few screws up in there?" Cleo suddenly snapped at the apprentice. "Yes you are a bad guy, at least the way you act. And that you still follow Marcus after everything he did says a lot as well!" She was tired of her insane ramblings. "But you know so little. Marcus is trying to save the world, he has a weapon that will erase all enemies." Madlyn said calmly. "A weapon?" Both girls blinked. "What is it?" This did not sound good at all. "I can not tell that of course." She shrugged off the question and activated the spell Thorns of Malice. "That card?" They had seen it before, when they first met Madlyn actually. "You saw my first duel didn't you? Then you will know it empowers a monster by 600 points." The Dragon gained thorns all over its body(3000/1800). "But I thought that spell only works on plants?" Christine objected. "Not anymore. Marcus edited it himself, so it now also includes this Dragon." Her Synchro then released a fire blast at Kataryken Zane Baker. "Gah." The remaining flames touched Rose's legs.

Rose's LP: 700

They also remembered how Thorns of Malice did not kill its prey, it just sapped their attack and defense by 600 points. Kataryken's body was injured(2200/2300), though he survived. "You are toying with me again." Rose coughed. "What if I am? I am supposed to stall you both, am I not?" She switched Revival Rose to defense mode and ended her turn. "If you would just explain to us, what Marcus plans to do.." She tried to reason one more time. ".. would you condone it? I do not think so.. But I knew enough to understand we need such extremes to win.." It did not work. Grumbling she sent Kataryken to attack, as he could at least take down the Revival monster. _"Thorn of Malice does piercing damage as well. It does not matter if I attack or defend."_ She placed a trap and ended her turn. ".. and if I can have some fun in the mean time,I will take it. But _our_ time is up, flowery Rose. Prepare for the final agony.." The dragon prepared another flare. "This attack will take away all your life!" Caine gasped as Zane was hit again.

"Defense Draw! I negate the damage and draw 1 card!" Christine yelled at the last second, she flipped her trap to save herself. "That card again.." Nevertheless Zane was weaker then ever (1600/1700). "I hope you drew something good." The goth said as she drew a breath of relief. "Even though I do not mind letting you have her. I think I can finish this myself." Rose entered her turn. "Then you do have something to show me?" Madlyn asked. "Yes.. this card. It needs just one tribute..." To their surprise she sacrificed Zane for a new castle-shaped monster(1200/2000). "Turret Warrior. He gains attack equal to the original attack of the tributed card!" The Warrior took all of Kataryken Zane's points (4000/2000). "I have seen enough of that card." All turrets aimed and sent a salvo of bullets to smother Black Rose Dragon for good.

Madlyns LP: 5600

Madlyn said nothing. She just placed one monster facedown and ended her turn. "It must be strange to you, to be on the defensive for once." Christine drew and equipped Turret Warrior with Assault Armor. "You do not like it, do you?" She immediately tributed the spell so the warrior could attack twice this turn. "I think you are just doing this, so you can have someone to duel. Someone to defeat. But.." The turrets fired another round to kill the set card. "I will not let you win this time!" And then she attacked directly the second time around, bullets rained down upon the flower girl. "What do you know?" She suddenly said as she revealed that Turret had destroyed a Violet Witch(1100/1200). That monster was a spellcaster that allowed the player to add a plant from their deck to their hand, as long as it had less than 1500 defense. "Your attacks are painless, your words are empty." She added a strange one-eyed plant to her hand. "Madlyn..." Christine played the other spell in her hand, Power Converter, and ended her turn.

Madlyns LP: 1600

_Power Converter, Equip Spell  
__During a players main phase, you can send this face-up card to the graveyard to gain life points equal to the equipped monster's ATK.  
__If you do, the equipped monster's ATK becomes 0 until the End Phase._

"But you try, don't you flowery Rose? You desperately want to understand. Well I will not let you, it ends now.." She activated the spell: Seed Cannon. "When I summon a plant, this card gains a counter. And I can fire a counter to do 500 damage!" She summoned the one-eyed seedling Violet Witch had given her(800/0). "Phoenixian Seed, this monster I can send to the grave to special summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis from my hand!" The seed germinated into a bright red amaryllis flower(2200/0). "There are two counters on the cannon, so you die!" She released Seed Cannon to shoot two seed bullets at Christine. "I use Power Converter's effect! I exchange attack for lifepoints!" Her LP shot up by 4000, before she received 1000 damage from Madlyns spell. "There you go hiding again. You are just a scared little girl!"

Christine's LP: 3700

However now that Turrets attackpower was nullified (0/2000), it was an easy target for the Phoenixian. "I use a World Tree counter to boost her attack!" An apple fell from the big tree, which the Cluster absorbed (2600/0). "Die, warrior!" Her fire plant burned the Castle-like fighter to molten stone, while Rose took 2600 battle damage. "Then after she attacks, Phoenixian Cluster will destroy itself! But when it is sent to the graveyard, the opponent takes 800 damage!" She was burned again, the attacks started to take their toll on her. "Maybe I am. But that's only human.." She managed to say. "I do not have to listen to your stories. During my endphase, Amaryllis is revived at the cost of another dead seedling.." Halliday removed Hedge Guard to special summon the Phoenixian(2200/0) in defense mode. "You can not win anymore. If you kill my plant now, you will lose another 800 lifepoints." And that would be the end for her. "You are still weak.. Rose.." She finished her turn. The duelist drew and looked at her seemingly final card. "Madlyn, you need to hear this. You may not want to hear another story, but this one is not from any book." She summoned a monster, the Twin Sword Marauder(1600/1200). "Hey that card is.."

Christine's LP: 300

Cleo recognized it as the monster Ceasar used before he switched over to X-Sabers. "You remember Ceasar don't you?" She asked Madlyn, who had not expected this question. "He was like you. Chosen by Marcus, on his show on this very tv-set that is now torn down. He followed the 'teacher' as well. Up until a point.. At first he may have done the wrong things for glory or other reasons. But in the end he did not duel just for its own sake. He dueled because he had to, he chose to save us while Marcus is still trying to abandon us." She pointed at the flower girl. "My point is; what 'we' are doing right now is violence for the sake of your own needs. You see us as enemies because you want to see us that way.. But I will no longer let you make that mistake." Madlyn realized what would happen, Twin Sword Marauder had a piercing effect. "If you kill the Phoenixian.. you will take damage." She protested. "But the damage you take, will come first." She countered. "And even if the holograms still respond, I will take it. I will share the pain with you. Because we should not be fighting each other!" The Marauder extended his bladed claw and slashed into the fire cluster, inflicting 1600 battle damage. "No!" Her monster died, her life wilted away, and the Phoenix's flames spread all over. "Rose!"

Madlyns LP: 0

Back in the pyramid, they had reached yet another dead end had to backtrack. "If Ka intends to wear us down before the duel even begins, that mission is slowly succeeding." Colin took another zip from his bottle. "I am beginning to wonder why you really followed us Colin." Jackson began to get annoyed by his endless complaints. "Oh had I known they would not be waiting for us at the end of the portal, I might have reconsidered. But then I had never seen Egypt before so.." But that was hot his main reason either. "Well. Maybe I should just say that it has to do with my occupation as a diviner." He sighed. "Did you see something then?" Nero wondered if the cards actually told him something this time. "Not just once..that was why I ." Unfortunately he could not finish his sentence. "No." Raness suddenly spoke up.

"This writing." He looked at the hieroglyphs on the wall, which he had not been looking at before. "What does it say?" None of them knew how to translate that, but the Pharaoh could do it. "This tomb.. it says that Lady Neith sleeps here." He pulled his hand back, as if shocked. "Neith? Wasn't that your mother.." The one they also knew as the lady that tried to claim the throne for herself. "Now I remember. We built this place during my reign. The queen of the Nile still was granted her own tomb. But that means.." The flood of returning memories started to hurt him. "Dude, do not faint on us again." Sairve panicked. "Hng... I will be.. fine. I can not.. let you or my partner.. endure this alone." He seemed to stave off the agony. "Do you think Ka lured you here on purpose, to make you know more about your own past?" Jackson inquired. And Raness nodded. "It has to be. I suddenly recalled images, things Zevgar also told me. But one more important thing.." He looked at the writing again. "This pyramids.. was built on top of the source.."

"Below this place lies the chamber where the Millennium Items were forged."

(To be Continued in New Testament 070: Morally Bankrupt)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Lily Baker  
_Twin Sword Marauder

_-  
__Power Converter (+)  
__(+) Based on the spell used by Rua in Yugioh 5D's_

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Hedge Guard  
Violet Witch  
Phoenixian Seed  
Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis

-  
Seed Cannon


	70. Morally Bankrupt

**New Testament 070: Morally Bankrupt**

"You made the items here?" That was what Raness said, as they were inside the pyramid built on top of a different dungeon apparently. "Yes. That is what my memories tell me.. During a great war we were forced to use the secrets of the Millennium tome, to fight of invaders that tried to take over our kingdom. My ancestors were the ones that made the Millennium Items, that started the rule of the Pharaoh and the six priests. But to prevent anyone from ever using the tools of their forging, we built this tomb on top of the original site. And now Ka must want to return all seven items to the source." He looked down. "Follow me. I know which way to go now." Now he could remember, this place was not just another tomb he never visited. "So what is this source like then? Is it a slab that all items fit in, or a big cauldron of sorts?" Colin had all sorts of questions now. "No. When the items were made, nobody knew how to open the gate of Alkahest. They merely received some knowledge of the other world. How the gate is made.. only Ka knows that."

....

The duel was over, Madlyn lost to the battle damage before she could defeat Christine with effect damage. "..." Cleo looked at both duelists; Madlyn was now sitting on the floor, seemingly stunned. "Chrsitine?" So she turned her attention to Rose. "Are you allright?" She asked her, as she just stood there. "Not much.." She fell to her knees. "Tsk. She got you after all." Cleo rasped. The burning energy had reached the girl before the duel ended. "I will be fine. I Just have to.. sit down and rest a bit." She placed herself against the wall. "You have to go. To stop Marcus. If he has a weapon, and he did not tell us about it.. it can not be .. good." She said in between coughs. "It is rather quiet down there." Cleo had not heard a peep or a bang from the soldiers down below. "Are you sure you will be okay if I leave you here?" Christine nodded slowly. "Trust me." She did not fear Madlyn right now either. "Very well." Caine turned around and headed for the elevator shaft. "But going down it will not be easy.." She sighed.

"So she lost. That did not keep them busy for more then a half hour." Lydia said, looking at the duel results with the extra monitor. "Enthusiasm can only take one so far." They also saw that Cleo was using the rope in the lift tunnel to slowly make her way down. "The outcome will not affect anything, nobody can get passed the sleeping poison that is still above us. Cleo will join the soldiers and I will have enough time to fire the satellite" Marcus had said that Halliday did not need to rush upstairs, he felt safe with just that one measure. "In one hour we will be in range..." But then Lydia saw Cleo finally making it into the upper sublevel. "Uhm. Boss.." Marcus flinched and took a look for himself. "She is not reacting to it." Blackstone told him, and he saw it for himself. "That should not be possible. I tested it.. it works the same on all humans." He did not understand how she could be immune, yet the more time passed, the less denial he could have. "Then it must be because." He had a quick realization. "Cadron.. you bastard.."

Cleo herself did not notice the gas, she dismissed the stench but did not fail to spot the various bodies. "Guys this is no time to be sleeping.." She tried to wake one up by kicking him softly, but the soldier failed to respond or even make a noise. "I am guessing you are not just tired." A trap had to be at work here. She did not see Marcus or Lydia anywhere on this level, and the place was not that big. "In that case..." She turned her eyes back to the lift doors, which closed behind her. _"Figured.. he is.." _But before she could even finish her theory in thought, the lights turned on in one of the side-rooms. "The training room?" For a second she though she saw something in there. That place was not inspected yet, allthough she doubted there would be anyone inside. _"Not like I can open those doors." _She walked into the place, though not before placing something heavy between the door so at least that one would not shut itself. "Come out wherevere you are." She walked inside and saw him. "Hello Cleo."

There stood Marcus, greeting her with a smile. "You." Or at least he appeared to be here. "Wait." Glancing at the floor, the goth saw only one shadow. "A hologram?" And it was not his. "What are you trying to pull here?" So he had to be elsewhere after all, wherever that lift was now. "Correcting a slight oversight. You see I gassed this room to stop intruders.. except you seem to be immune to it. I did not know how, until I remembered that Cadron made all of his poisons with one specific antidote in mind." Cleo quickly flashed back in her head to the past herself. "Aha.. you're telling me you can not poison me, because we used his antidote way back in Tower 0013?" That was hilarious enough to laugh at. "Well, with the dear doctor dead, I had to use what he had left behind. But any way.." He snapped his fingers.

A simulated dueldisk was projected onto his arm. "I say we settle this by duel. I can not confront you in person until I disperse the gas, and I do not want you destroying my equipment in the mean time. Therefore I propose a fair trade-off. If I win, you will let me finish my task. If you win, I shall stop and allow passage into the lowest levels." Caine was hesitant to answer, why would he play fair now? "Tsk. If I went ruin-mode on your things, Cable might complain because we could still need it later." She activated her own dueldisk. "But if you want to settle it like this. I will not stop you.. at least you didn't send me another flunkey."

Cleo's LP: 8000 Marcu's LP: 8000

Down below Marcus was strapped into VR-gear, that allowed him to remote-duel. "You think we have the time for this?" Lydia snapped, now that she had to monitor the satellite on her own. "I have confidence in your computing abilities my apprentice. That was why I hired you. And this is necessary, to stall the girl." Simmons smirked. He had no real intention of honoring his promise, he just wanted to stall the goth who was immune to his poison. "I shall start." He said and the hologram repeated his words for Cleo. "I will set one monster card facedown, one card in the spell and trap zone, and I activate the spell card: Paralyze Chain." A holographic chain wrapped around Caine's ankle. "Whenever I discard cards from your deck, you will lose 300 lifepoints." He explained. "Oh. You still run that old deck." Cleo started her turn. "Even after inventing Synchros and what not, you stick with the strategy of deck destruction." She activated the spell card Domino Effect. "Times change, Cleo. But certain weaknesses like the deck remain.."

She summoned Malice, the Doll of Demise(1600/1700). "Feh, sounds more like you just can't let go of the past. Well your glory days are long gone!" The doll cut into the set monster with its axe. It was a fiery larva, whose death sent warm goo everywhere. "Ew." And then suddenly cards from her deck were discarded. "You killed Warm Worm(600/1400). It will send 3 cards from your deck to the grave, when it is destroyed." She then received a shock from his continuous spell. "Gah!" And then Simmons flipped his trap. "I use Broken Blocker, when you kill a monster whose defense is higher than it's offense, two more will take its place." Two more fire worms appeared (600/1400). "What? Oh you slimy.. then I use the effect of my spell!" She sacrificed Malice for Domino effect. "I can tribute a monster when one of yours dies, and kill another!" One of the Warm Worms stiffened up, toppled to the floor and shattered like a vase. "Hmm, but now you lose another 3 cards, Paralyze Chain hits again." Another 300 LP were taken away from her.

Cleo's LP: 7400

_"Burn tactics as well."_ That was the second oldest trick in the book. "I end my turn." She had no traps to set unfortunately. "Very well. Then I special summon this card by removing 2 Insects from my graveyard: Doom Dozer." The two Warm Worms were used to bring out a large red centipede (2800/2600). "Gah, I hate bugs. Of all types you had to stick with them.." Cleo shivered. "There is more. I normal summon Shield Worm." The caterpillar insect(800/2000) appeared in defense mode. "When summoned, it changes to defense mode. And my opponent loses 1 card for each Insect on the field." There were 3 now, the worms and the devil insect. "Three cards huh." Cleo discarded another set, and received another shock to her legs. "And now a direct attack." Doom Dozer crawled over the ceiling towards her, and hit her with his massive head. "And when it inflicts damage, the opponent loses 1 more card from her deck!" So in addition to 2800 battle damage, Paralyze Chain drained another 300 LP. "God damn it..."

Cleo's LP: 4000

Simmons placed a trap and ended his turn. "I wonder if this pain can be returned to you." She said with a nasty smile. "When Malice is sacrificed for a spell, it is revived during my next turn." The killing doll returned to the field. "Next. I special summon The Fiend Megacyber from my hand, which I can do when my enemy controls two more monsters than me." The cybernetic warrior was her second monster(2200/1200). "And finally I normal summon Chaos Necromancer, who will gain 300 attack for all monsters in my grave." Twelve cards were discarded so far, so there were plenty of those; 5 in fact (1500/0). "Now.. a triple attack!" Malice cut down the remaining Warm Worm, after which she used Domino Effect again to destroy Doom Dozer. "Trap card: Soul Rope." Yet Marcus countered by paying 1000 LP and special summoning another Shield Worm(800/2000). There were 2 insects on the field left, so she lost 2 plus 3 for the slain Warm Worm. Paralyze Chain zapped her twice for 600 damage. "You do not know when to quit do you?"

Cleo's LP: 3400 Marcus's LP: 7000

Megacyber then punched through one Shield Worm and was sacrificed as well to destroy the second. Like a stack of dominos all insects collapsed on each other. "Direct attack!" Chaos Necromancer(2400/0), empowered by sacrificed and discarded monsters, casted a dark spell to hit the teacher. "Oh the pain, the pain." However he laughed off the damage he took. "Gah. I knew it, I knew you would not set this duel up so that you would feel pain as well." She cursed at him. "I am not really here, Cleo Caine. Not much I can do." Neither could she, she had to end her turn again. "Eightteen cards remain in your deck."

Marcus's LP: 4600

"Now, let's see." He drew a card and smirked. "One more insect, but then all shall change. I remove 1 insect to special summon this one." He used up he third Warm Worm to bring out a green centipede(1900/400). "Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior. It only discards 1 card, when it does damage." So it was like a weaker Doom Dozer, and on its own it could not match the Necromancer's power. "However, I can normal summon this card." His next monster was not a bug of any kind, it was a snake. "Iron Chain Snake?" Cleo did not recognize it at all, it(800/1200) looked like a serpent made from chains. "This card is one of my latest inventions, to boost my deck destruction theme." Without warning it shit towards the Necromancer, binding it down. "It will equip itself to your monster, lowering its attack by 800 points. And when that monster is killed, you lose a card for each level it has." The chain snake strangled the Chaos fiend(1600/0), allowing the Aztec insect to crush it to death with its pincers. "This is getting old." Paralyze Chain activated once more. Since her monster was a level 1 monster, she only had to discard 1 card when it died, and 1 when Aztekipede inflicted damage. "Beginning to regret challenging me?" He was done for now.

Cleo's LP: 2800

"Never." She drew one of the sixteen cards remaining in her deck. "Malice the Doll returns again. I use it for a tribute summon." The doll was offered for the level 6 zombie, Il Blud (2100/800). "A gemini monster?" It was an ghoul in prison clothes, whose chest was bulging as if he had swallowed a balloon. "Die!" She did not hesitate to attack, Il Blud sent a kick towards the Worm Warrior, bashing its head in with the ball chained around its leg. "How fitting that you use such an undead against me." Simmons chuckled; 200 damage was nothing to him. "You are literally trying to make me become one of them. You want to see me answer for my crimes dont you?" Grumbling the goth ended her turn, still not getting any traps she could use. "I will not go back. I came too far. When my satellite destroys the enemy, I will be heralded as not only the savior of duel monsters, but also the savior of the world!" He laughed out loud as he placed a monster card facedown. "Satellite?" Cleo flinched. "Oh my. I think I have gone and said too much.."

Marcus's LP: 4400

And back at the pyramid, they had found a tunnel that connected the upper dungeon to one buried deep. They knew they were getting closer for two reasons. "A light?" At the end was a faint shimmering glow. "He is here." And Raness could sense the evil aura of the Magus. "He is not alone. Be prepared for everything." All the Pillars had to be there as well. And their fears were rapidly proven as they wound up in a large hall. "Oh!" It looked like a mausoleum, with a large sarcophagus at the center and torches between pillars. "Welcome Lord." Archon was there, welcoming them. "To the place where it all began." Everyone else was present too, even Zakarias who had seemingly regenerated over the last few days. "Ka.." And seated on his throne of shadows was the big bad himself. **"Welcome Home, Raness.."**

(To be Continued in New Testament 071: Chains for Life)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Malice, Doll of Demise  
The Fiend Megacyber  
Il Blud

**New Cards used by Marcus Simmons  
**Warm Worm  
Doom Dozer  
Aztekipede the Worm Warrior  
Iron Chain Snake

-  
Paralyze Chain

-  
Broken Blocker  
Soul Rope


	71. Chains for Life

**New Testament 071: Chains for Life**

"You.. you really still have an Orichalcos satellite?" Cleo had heard Marcus say that, though he pretended to have let it slip as an accident. "You will see for yourself in about.." Simmons checked his watch. "30 Minutes." Caine's eye twitched. "You are not just stuck on the past, you are reliving it!" She drew her next card. "You want to fire that thing again, you are mad! I mean you experienced what it was like yourself!" And so did she, though she tried to forget. "This is different. I have good intentions now." He said. "You idiot. If you are trying to shoot what I think you are, you will hit my friends as well. Gah!" Now she felt extra determined to defeat him. So she re-summoned the gemini monster on her field. This unsealed the effect of Il Blud(2100/800); once per turn he could revive a zombie from the cemetery. "Ryu Kokki!" The prisonerghoul unzipped his coat, releasing the struggling dragonbone monster (2400/2000) within. "Die!" Il Blud then smashed Simmon's set card. "Thank you my dear, you flipped Morphing Jar.."

"Damn it." It was the chaotic pod monster (700/600), whose flip effect forced all cards out of her hand, replacing them with five from her deck. "Heh. Nine cards remain in your deck." Marcus could draw five cards as well, though he did not have to discard anything as his hand was empty. "Laugh it up while you can." Ryu Kokki hit the opponent directly. Afterwards she placed two trap cards down and ended her turn. "You are angry, I understand. But you must trust me, Cleo. Orichalcos is dead, the satellite will not feed souls to any dark god anymore." He placed one card facedown. "I am doing this to absorb the souls of the enemy, if I hurt your friends I will return theirs afterwards." He smiled politely. "I do not believe you. Nor would anyone ever condone you having such a dangerous weapon." She hissed at him. "Very well. If I can not convince you. I shall crush you." He activated the spell, Swords of Concealing Light. "First your monsters." All monsters on the field were switched facedown by black swords raining from the ceiling.

Marcus's LP: 2000

"They will stay face-down for 2 turns. But I shall not wait that long: Extermination!" He played another spell, which instantly blew up the hidden Il Blud. "This card destroys one facedown monster, and all of its copies in our deck." But neither had more of the hellish keeper, so none were discarded. "Next to crush your magic; Gates of the Grave." Another spell suddenly shattered Domino Effect. "This card sacrifices the top card of my deck, to take out one of your face-up spells or traps." And now he was ready to summon. "I already showed you one of my Iron Chain cards, now meet number two: Iron Chain Repairman." Out came a hammer-wielding mustache-wearing repairer(1600/1200). "Once per turn, it can skip a battle phase to 'repair' another Iron Chain." The warrior slammed his hammer against the floor, which pushed Iron Chain Snake (800/1200)to the field. "Now for the final card in my hand: Poison Chain!" Besides Paralyze Chain came another continous spell. "For every endphase of a a turn in which I do not attack, you will lose cards from your deck equal to the number of Iron Chain monsters I control." He ended his turn, and he had the Snake and Repairman to send 2 cards out of Cleo's deck. "Grr." Paralyze Chain drained another 300 LP away.

Cleo's LP: 2500

_Extermination, Normal Spell  
__Select on face down monster on your opponents field and send it to the graveyard. If this card had an effect,  
__both players look through there decks and send any card with that monster's name to the graveyard. Shuffle your deck afterwards.  
__  
Gates of the Grave, Quickplay Spell  
__Discard 1 card from the top of your deck to destroy 1 face-up spell or trap card._

"Now that I know what you plan to do, why should I continue this game?" She asked him, feeling like smashing some of his stuff to stop him. "Nothing up here will endanger my operation down below. Feel free to wander around helplessly, but that lift wont open until I lose... Or are you thinking you can not beat me?" His hologram smirked. "Tsk. To program your images to do even that.. that does it." She drew her next card. "Your black swords stop my current monsters, but any new ones I summon will be able to attack!" She sacrificed the hiding dragonbone zombie, to call out a dragon with more flesh. "I special tribute summon RedEyes Zombie Dragon(2400/200)! It attacks Iron Chain Repairman!" The undead RedEyes unleashed a rotten blast of fire. "Rescuer from the Grave!" But Marcus would not get hit, because of a spell he had discarded earlier with Gates of the Grave. "What, an effect from the cemetery?" Her attack was deflected. "I can remove this card and five other cards, to end your attack."

_Rescuer from the Grave, Quickplay Spell  
__Activate only if this card is in your graveyard when a monster your opponent controls declares an attack. Remove this card and 5 other cards in your graveyard from play to negate the attack._

"Feh, I activate The Dark Door. Now only one monster can attack every turn." She ended her turn after that. "I see. You think I will attack now that you have summoned something strong. Thus stopping the Poisonous chain. But.." He summoned Iron Chain Coil(1100/1600), a level 3 tuner machine. "A tuner? What a twist..." She said sarcastically. Of course 'he' would have a Synchro of his own. "Heh. I understand that feeling as well. At first not many accepted my idea.. but now." He tuned Coil with the level 3 Snake, producing a level 6 Dragon in chains(2500/1300). "People can not get enough." At the same time Iron Chain Repairman used his effect once more, this time to revive the Tuner in defense mode. "Now then, Iron Chain Dragon removes all Iron Chains in the cemetery and gains 200 power for each one. And when it kills a monster, the opponent discards 3 cards from their deck." Iron Chain Dragon removed the snake. "Furthermore, Iron Chain Coil can boost another Chain by 300." The coil did so, and the empowered Dragon(3000/1300) attacked. "Trap Card: Nightmare Wheel!" She tried to stop the attack with her torture wheel. "Counter trap: Crypt Curse." Alas, Marcus only had to pay 1000 LP to negate her card with his. "You have a response for everything, dont you?" She cursed before the Synchro constricted RedEye ZombieDragon to a second death. "Now 3 cards are discareded, here comes Paralyze Chain!" The chain around her leg released another shock.

Cleo's LP: 1800 Marcus's LP: 1000

"Gah. You really like to do pain to others, I see now why you would even hire someone like Madlyn." At least Poison Chain did not activate this endphase. But. "Draw!" Now she had nothing left in her hand that could counter his strategy. She could defend, but there were only two cards left in the dueldisk, she did not have the time._ "In more ways then one.." _Nevertheless, that was her only option. She placed one trap and one monster facedown. Her Spirit Reaper would at least stop him from using Iron Chain Dragons effect again. "That is all? Poor Cleo.. even you can see how little is left. So.. I will let you choose."

"Huh?" He summoned the fourth Chain; Iron Chain Blaster. A cannonwielding warrior(1100/0). "This card can inflict 800 damage by sacrificing an Iron Chain monster. So you can choose if I should burn your life, or destroy your deck?" Either the 300 LP from Paralyze Chain would finish her off, or the lack of cards in her deck due to Poison Chain. "Surprise me." She said apathetically. "Heh. Then..Iron Chain Blaster it is!" The cannon fired itself, which did surprise her. "He can only fire once. So that is why.." Iron Chain Repairman switched to defense mode and used his hammer to resurrect the Chain Blaster. "I reset his presence by killing and reviving him!" It then immediately fired off Iron Chain Coil. "Now you have only 200 LP left, so the endphase will .." He was in the middle of gloating, when he saw it. "Hey.."

Cleo's LP: 1000

"Your life.. should not be that high." He protested. "Pay attention, teacher. The math is simple." She revealed her trap, Damage Translation. "I used this card before you hit me the first time. This trap halves all effect damage I take this turn. And summons tokens during the endphase, for each time I took damage." Now she did the smirking. "Then you choose to die painlessly, Cleo?" He ended his turn, letting Poison Chain target the last few cards in her deck. "Nope." But her second trap solved that problem. "Reckless Greed?" She used the trap that sacrificed draw phases for draws. "I draw two cards, the two you tried to discard." Thus when her turn began, she did not need to draw from nothing, because there was no draw phase. "To think you could use such an old card.." His entire strategy was circumvented. But he still thought he had the better field. "In a way I guess I am like you. I can not let go of the first cards I used in a duel either. And like you I am now forced to adapt in order to overpower my enemies. Sacrifices are needed.."

Due to Damage Translation, she gained two ghostly-tokens (0/0). "Sacrifices?" Now she had three monsters. "Yes. Three are needed to call out this 'devil'. It may not be a god, but then I am not that kind of type anyway." The ghosts and the reaper died, their bodies splattered over the floor like blood. From that crimson lake a new wicked monster emerged, a devilish two-mouthed serpent-dragon. _"Wicked Eraser!?" _Marcus recognized that card, he made it himself. "_It gains.. 1000 points for all cards on my field." _He gasped, there were five: Paralyze Chain, Poison Chain and his three Iron Chain monsters. _"But even if she hits me, I turned off my.."_ The actual marcus flinched. "Wait." He saw a readout inside his VR-helmet, a red light was blinking. "Wait!" Somehow the safeties had been turned off. "Like hell!" Wicked Eraser(5000/5000) opened one of its mouths to release its digestive blaze. "Gaaaaahhhh!!!!" The hellfire turned Iron Chain Dragon(2500/1300) into a living bonfire synchro, and Marcus suffered a thousand volts worth of energy. "What the hell?" Cleo did not get why all of the sudden Marcus did get zapped when he took damage. Either way the hologram faded before her eyes. "Wonder if he keeps his promises.." She glanced at the lift.

Marcus's LP: 0

"Why.." The damage he took upstairs, was also transferred to him down below. The real Simmons was electrocuted by his own gear. "L.." He managed to take it off, and fell to the floor. "Lydia." There he saw the one who was responsible. "Target is in range, teacher.. heheheh." She did not rush to help him, or look concerned at all. "You.. turned the damage.. on.... why?" He coughed, too much in agony to move. "Why? Why!?!" She walked over to him and kicked him in the gut. "You actually forgot, didn't you? You did not even think about the day we first met.. when you took my soul!" She spat and returned to her seat. "I never did forgive you for that, I only pretended to.. I was willing to be your apprentice because of all the money and fame. But now you have gone and messed that up with your idiotic schemes." She sighed, tapping some buttons. "I saw my chance while you were dueling. Now I am taking over, teacher." The monitor had the pyramid in view. "I will be the one to fire your satellite. And when it succeeds, I will take the glory..."

..

"So we are here, Ka. How do you intend to challenge us?" Raness confronted the Magus and his six servants. "And where have you bastards hidden William?" Nero added. "How dare you speak to us, to the creator, that way." Zakarias yelled at the Pharaoh, seemingly insulted. **"Calm yourself, Iron Pillar. They will need to see..." **Their leader moved gave a simple nod to Dioscure, and the Copper Pillar walked over to the sarcophagus, opening it. "Yah!" William lept out, but was quickly held back by his captor. "Will!" Nero and Colin were happy to see him, alive and well. "He is back after all." Jackson appeared less enthusiastic, but even he felt some relief. "Guys?" Carter was stunned to see them, struggling as he were. "You will have plenty of time to get reacquainted later, kids." Hieroglyph rasped. "Now.. the puzzle."

**"I believe it will have to wait." **Ka said, looking up for no apparent reason. "What is it, creator?" Zakarias asked him. **"A minor inconvenience." **He raised both hands, and the anti-millenium items all started to glow a pale color. "What are you doing?" Raness was understandably worried and expected a trap. **"Nothing much.."** The Copper Scales, Mercury Hourglass, Iron Key, Silver Lamp, Lead Compass and Tin Hammer released six beams into the ceiling. That was as far as they could see. What they did not see was that the beams emerged from the pyramid and converged on its top. The very next second a large green beam of energy came crashing down upon the place. Yet the pale beam intercepted the blast as if it were a shield, sending the attack right back into the clouds. "That did not just happen!" Lydia shrieked as she watched the beam return to the satellite it came from, overloading the cannon and shutting it down. "If I can not win.." She glared back at Marcus, who was now unconscious. ".. then you will take the fall."

"What was that all about?" Back in the dungeon, the lightshow had ended, and everything seemed safe. **"Now we can proceed, Raness... I take it you remember this place." **Ka's one eye was fixated on him. "Of course. Were the Millenium Scales buried here?" He saw that Dioscuri also had the golden scales in his hands, they indeed only needed his Puzzle to complete the set. **"Yes. Your priests must have believed that we would never look at the source.." **Raness raises a brow. "Mine? You used to be a priest under my rule as well." He said mockingly. This the Magus did not seem to like. **"Is that all you have to say? Then your memory must still be ailing.. If that is the case, I do not wish to duel you." **Everyone gasped. "Not? What is that supposed to mean!" William shouted. "It means.." Thryall suddenly stepped up, holding the Millenium Ring.

"The Lord will face us instead.. all at once!" A golden light came from the Item.

(To be Continued in New Testament 072: The Door is Closed)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Wicked Eraser

-  
Damage Translation  
Reckless Greed

**New Cards used by Marcus Simmons  
**Iron Chain Repairman  
Iron Chain Coil  
Iron Chain Dragon  
Iron Chain Blaster

-  
Swords of Concealing Light  
Poison Chain  
_Extermination  
__Gates of the Grave  
__Rescuer from the Grave (+)_

_(+) Based on the spell used by Rafael in YGO season 4_


	72. The Door is Closed

**New Testament 072: The Door is Closed**

At the filmstudio, Lydia made the choice to escape while she still could. She pocketed Marcus who was still unconscious and took the elevator upstairs. "Answer me damn it!" Cleo meanwhile was sitll stuck on the second sublevel, trying to use the soldiers communicators to call for help. However what she did not know was that Simmons had blocked all communication except for those linked to the now defunct satellite. "Huh?" And she heard the lift go back upstairs. "Hey! Come back here, I won that duel remember!" Lydia went all the way to the surface, ignoring the goths shouts for help. And when she reached the ground floor, she did not approach Christine or Madlyn either. _".. this place is as good as scrapped." _She thought, looking at the torn open ceiling. _"It is time.. to get even."_ She exited through the emergency doors.

...

"Where.." Elias blinked. "Is.." The light died down, and now he was back in control of his body. "He?" And he was not as much surprised to see himself in this area, as he was to see himself in control at all. "Elias?" Colin and company pretty quickly realized the student was back in control. "That's him?" And this was the first time that William Carter saw him in person. "Wait.." He also realized he could move again. "This guy is." The one that pressed him down before, Dioscure, he was not moving. "They all are.." The other pillars were all motionless as well. Thryall still held out the Millennium Ring in front of him. "Do not tell me that he.." Nero and Jackson knew what power the Ring had; the ability to put one mind into another object. "You mean.. all the enemies are inside the puzzle right now, fighting with Raness?" Six against one, to think anyone would have to face such consequences. "But if that is true..maybe we can smash it?" Colin wondered now if destroying the puzzle would destroy those inside. **"No you can not.."**

"!!" It seemed not all of their enemies were gone. **"You should not hope for miscalculations. Though Raness, the lord, is strong; it will not take everything to crush him. And.." **The Magus waved his hand around. **"you will not be permitted to walk around freely. Not in this sacred hall." **And this simple gesture made everyone feel the pressure of his dark power, weighing down like the ceiling of the pyramid itself. "Gah.." The duelists were forced to bend down, to kneel before the Magus. "Damn it, we do not.. submit to you." Nero replied fiercely, but his body did not budge. **"You continue to misconstrue my grand design. I have told you this before, Host of the Pharaoh, why do you not spread the truth?" **His one golden eye looked straight at Elias. "I.." And before he could even answer, the Millennium Eye had read his mind. **"You do not trust me, you can not... Without his spirit, you are just another misguided imperfect human." **Suddenly the force went away. **"No.. Even He is imperfect.."**

"Why did you stop?" Jackson asked between deep breaths. **"You would resist until death, and those who have seen the true face of Raness can not gove their souls to me unless they grant it to me." **He looked at William this time. **"Yes, William Carter, you remember. The six of you are special.. the six targeted by Turner." **Though two were not here, and two could not be attacked by The Crawler before he was stopped. **"Six.. again. History is repeating itself." **The Magus sat down again** "This world has too many constants... Past, present and future; they hide nothing to my eyes. And nothing will change if humanity is left alone as it is. It will never find perfection, because it is content with their current existence." **The others stood up as well. "Then you mean to change the world.. with the Alkahest?"

**"You have been told.. I expected nothing less from Raness and his followers. Yes.. the gate is what we seek to open. Imagine it if you will: an existence lacking sin, lacking flaws. There will be no more need for hunger, for strife, disease, and death.. All of mankind will transcend to a state wherein shadows and hearts exist as one, wherein self will reunite with The All." **This was his design, this was what would happen if the gate would be opened. "The spirit will become perfect, like a god?" It all sounded so... grand in scope. "But what about free will, individuality, what about the things that make us human?" Jackson asked him, he did not like this concept at all. **"Sacrifices that need to be made. Once man experienced ascension, they will never desire to return to their fragmented state. Is it not the same for you Jackson Doe? I saw it in your mind.. You tasted the power of angels. Do you not a lesser being for having lost that taste?" **Doe backed off. He knew that he did miss it, even if he could barely remember what it was like. And if he knew, she knew. **"The mind, your minds.. they are filled with impure thoughts. None of you are guiltless, neither am I. We need Alkahest.."**

"Now wait just a second here." Someone spoke up, and it Sairve of all people. "I knew we may not be perfect, and I know gods must live fantastic lives. And I definitely know I am a little envious. Hell I am probably the biggest 'sinner' here. But.." He walked right to the throne of the Magus. "There is no way in any hell or heaven, that I will let someone like you sweet-talk us into accepting such an insane fantasy. Even if it is possible,, how can I put faith in the words of someone like you? Raness said it, that priestguy said it, you are just a powerhungry maniac. In fact forget what I said before, you are the biggest sinner here. You lecturing us is just downright laughable." And Colin did chuckle, for a while. "C'mon guys. Do not listen to him. He knows what we want to hear. I have seen enough moves of fake psychics in my time.. to tell when I am being manipulated." He took out a dueldisk.** "You wish to challenge me?" **Ka inquired and took another look into his mind. **"While you fear me even now.." **The Magus did not understand his determination. "Heh. As if I have a choice, it's do or die. This way I can get it over with.. right now. And besides.." He activated the disk and inserted his deck. "I dislike people who tell me to change the way I life.."

Colins LP: 8000 Ka's LP: 8000

**"Very well. I will show you the limits of a weak mind. One at a time.." **Ka seemingly accepted the duel and manifested six cards out of thin air. **"A shadowgame. The lord of shadows awaits.." **Yet he placed no cards of any kind face down, even though he clearly had taken initiative. "What the devil?" Colin had never seen a duelist leave an opening like that. "This duel uses normal rules right?" He was worried already. "Colin. Be careful. I dueled him as well, and none of my attacks landed a hit." Jackson explained. "Is that so? I will test that.." He summoned his first monster, a black clad demon wielding a sword(1000/1200). "Ash Gash the Ash King, attack!" The fiend tried to stab the Magus seated on his throne, but his attack went right through. "What the.." It was just like Doe said, Ka was not harmed, his lifeforce stayed the same. "How.. I mean. My monster is.." Ash Gash gained 1 level when it inflicted damage, and it's level had gone up from 4 to 5. "I must have hit him. Where did the damage go?"

Whatever had happened, he did not say. Ka merely entered his turn and placed three of his cards facedown. "Still no monsters." Nobody on the sidelines had a clue either. "But if you set traps, there must be a way to hit you after all." Colin entered his turn again. "Calculator!" He normal summoned the level 2 calculus machine(2100/0), whose attack was determined by number of level stars on the field. "Direct attack!" He tried his luck again, only this time Ka reacted. "Oh!" His first trap was a continuous one: Macrocosm. It summoned out a mummified humanoid(0/0) in defense mode. "What is that for?" He sent Ash Gash to get rid of it, the sword cut it down easily. Next the Calculator struck. **"Helios, the Primordial Sun was it's name. And for now it served but one purpose." **His second trap sprung open. **"Different Dimension Barrier - Lost Force." **A rift in time and space opened, swallowing the machine. "Hey." Then a second gate opened above him, and the Calculator re-appeared only to puncg him right in the face. "Gah!" Lost Force would negate an attack and redirect the damage, if a monster like Helios was removed from play that turn. **"The traps are not for my defense, they are for your destruction."**

Colins LP: 5900

_Different Dimension Barrier - Lost Force, Normal Trap  
__You can activate this card during your opponent's battle phase, when a monster you control was removed from play.  
__Negate the attack of 1 monster your opponent controls, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK._

"I get it. Macrocosmos did it, it is a trap that sends all dying cards into the removed from game pile. Helios was 'removed' not destroyed." William began to see what his playing style was. "It's a dimensional deck Colin!" He warned the seer. "Thanks I see that now." Sairve could only set a trap and end his turn again. "That does not explain why I can not hit him normally." He grumbled. **"If you desire a more standard challenge, then I shall reciprocate." **Ka now summoned his first monster of the game, D.D Warrior Lady(1500/1600). She immediately cut down Ash Gash with her glowing sword. "Tsk, that monster even we know about." It was a warrior that could at any time remove herself from the field along with a monster she did battle with. "But I have a way around it!" Colin boasted as Ka ended his turn. **"I know.."**

Colins LP: 5400

"What?" He froze up. **"You really have forgotten.. the power of my Millennium Eye.." **Everyone gasped. "Of course, he can read minds. He is doing it right now!" Colin was the most astounded. "That is cheating!" He protested. **"The rules are made by my hand. This is my domain.. Why complain? Your hand has Barbaros, Forbidden Chalice, another Calculator and Advance Draw. The card you set is Ojama Trio, the card you just drew is Promotion. I see every combo you can implement at this point. Some are quite good.." **Colins left eye twitched. "You do? Then take it!" He activated the spell Forbidden Chalice. "Even if you can see what is coming, you can not counter everything! This spell negates your monsters effect, she can not remove anyone from play now." He laughed nervously.

But the spell also gave a monster 400 more attackpoints (Warrior Lady: 1900/1600). "Next I summon a second Calculator." Another level 2 machine joined the first, they both boosted each other (Calculator: 1200/0). "And I play Promotion! To give one four more stars." The first became a level 6 monster, both Calculators gained 4 more attackboosts (Calculator: 2400/0). "And now I will attack!" The machines overpowered both the effectless Warrior Lady her master. "Again?" But once more, neither could strike Ka. In fact space and time itself bended to deflect the second attack. "Aargh!" And Sairve was again hit by his own monster. "She used Dimension Wall!" Nero saw the Magus activating his third trap just before Calculator # 2 came too close, it was a trap that returned all battle damage from one attack to the sender. "But.. he should still have taken some losses from when the Lady died, right?" Elias knew enough of the game to understand that concept. "He should have, but I think I know what happened.." Jackson said. "Look.."

Colins LP: 3000

Right after Sairve ended his turn, reluctantly, it appeared. "A D.D. Scout Plane?" A mechanical drone monster(800/1200). "That one can only appear at the end of a turn wherein it is removed. When did..." Even the seer now noticed what had changed recently. "The cards!" There were two in his 'hand'. Even accounting for undrawn cards, he should at least have had four. "He removes a card from his hand, every time he receives damage. The damage still counts, but it does not hurt his lifeforce." Doe had good reason to believe this was Ka's ability, just like how Dioscure could split up. "Then he removed a DD Scout Plane from her hand, when I killed Warrior Lady?" Whatever was the case, Ka still did not intend to resolve it. He placed a trap down, summoned the warrior: D.D. Survivor(1800/200) and ended his turn.

"How am I supposed to beat someone who can see what I draw, and block my damage!" Colin cursed as he drew his next card. **"Gallis the Star Beast.." **Ka scanned his mind a third time to see it. "..Wait." But Sairve realized something nice; Ka could see his hand, but he could not make plans for any new cards he drew. "I am willing to try anything. I activate the effect of Gallis!" He revealed the monster from his hand. "By revealing him, I can discard the top card from my deck. And if it is a monster, you take damage for each level it has!" It was time to foresee something good. "I discard.. Noisy Gnat!" The next card on his deck was the level 2 insect. "So you take 400 damage!" And it was as if a miracle happened, the Starbeast sent two stars towards Ka.. that did not phase through. "His life is.." Effect damage could not be negated..

**".... you touched Me.."**

Ka's LP: 7600

"Pharaoh." Meanwhile at a place that did not appear to be any different from the dungeon itself at first sight. "Welcome to your old home." Six pillars stood opposite of one man. "... so this is the ceremonial duel your creator has offered me." Raness was back in the memory world, or what was left of it. A crumbling mess of pyramids and palaces, that was where he slept for all these millennia. "Do not attempt to flee or reject us, Lord." Archon spoke for all six of them. "You will not see the light of day without going through us. And we will do everything to crush your spirit. So.. let us begin.. our shadowgame."

(To be Continued in New Testament 073: Tangible)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Ash Gash the Ash King  
Gallis the Star Beast

-  
Forbidden Chalice

**Cards used by 'The Dark Pillar' Ka  
**Helios - the Primordial Sun  
D.D. Warrior Lady  
D.D. Scout Plane  
D.D. Survivor

-  
Macrocosmos  
_D.D. Barrier - Lost Force_ (+)  
Dimension Wall  
_(+) Based on the trap used by Andore in Yugioh 5Ds_


	73. Tangible

**New Testament 073: Tangible**

Colins LP: 3000 Ka's LP: 7600

"I knew it. I knew there had to be a way to hurt you, not even dark gods can afford to be that indestructible." Colin smirked, as he had just finally caused Ka's lifepoints to drop. Gallis the Starbeast had discarded a level 2 monster to burtn him for 400. This coincidentally allowed the star griffon(800/800) to be special summoned as well. "But maybe it was a fluke? A part of me is thinking that. However.. I know you know what I know, Ka. Guess what combo I will use to test my theory." Ka did not need to guess, the Millenium Eye read his strategy already. He just had no countermeasure for such a spontaneous idea. "Ojama Trio!" First he used his trap to summon three Ojama-tokens(0/1000) to the enemy's field. "Now I sacrifice the Calculators and Gallis!" Next he called out Beastking Barbaros(3000/1200). "Barbaros uses his effect when tribute summoned with three tributes. He destroys my enemy's field entirely!" And when Ojama tokens were killed, their controller would lose 300 for each. Therefore Ka lost 900 LP during the wipeout.

Ka's LP: 6700

D.D. Survivor, Scout Plane and Macrocosmos and his ste trap were also all removed. "Again.. Effect damage does work!" William gasped. "He can win.." Nero cheered. "That would be nice. But.." He sent the King of Beasts to attack, but his spear passed right through the Magus as if he were a ghost. "Physical attacks still do not work." He sighed. "But his hand is empty..." Elias said, pointing at Ka's last card that was removed from play to nullify the damage. "Yeah but during the endphase her monsters will revive, since they were removed from play." And right on time, the cloaked Survivor(1800/200) and two Scout drones(800/1200) jumped out of a portal unto the hall floor. "A second scout plane? That must have been the card he removed." However they were all weaker than Barbaros, Colin had little to fear. **"I see now.. You hide your wisdom well, Colin Sairve." **Ka drew his next card. **"But a part of you still ponders the gap between me and his kind. You can not catch up. You escape one 'hell' only to find another... "**

"Behold." For some reason a card from nowhere re-appeared in his hand. "What the?" And then another came, for both him and the seer. **"Treasure from the Different Dimension. When removed from play, I can choose to return it to my hand. In return both duelists shall draw one card."** Colin drew a card, yet he did not look at it. "I am on to you! You want to make me draw my trump cards while you can still prepare for it. No dice, I wont let you see what it is, until it is my turn." He hid it behind his Advance Draw spell. **"I care not what you try, few cards will save you from this." **The Magus played a continuous spell next, the card he had drawn in his draw phase. **"Kettle of Alchemists - Chaos Distill. From now on all my cards will be removed from play." **A large boiling kettle appeared, which basically replaced the loss of Macrocosmos. "At least it does not remove my cards anymore." Ka then also played the spell Chaos Greed, which allowed her to drew two new cards when she had no cards in her cemetery.

_Treasure from a Different Dimension, Normal Spell  
__You can not enter the draw phase if this card is in your hand or set on your field.  
__If this card was removed from play, you can return it to your hand during your standby phase. If this card is returned to the hand this way, both players draw 1 card._

_Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill, Continuous Spell  
__While this card is face-up on the field, any card sent to your graveyard is removed from play instead._

**"It comes. The White."** And one of those two cards she used right away. **"The Magic of Albedo. I can sacrifice monsters to call forth Alchemy tools." **The D.D. monster trio first lost their color, became transparent and finally faded into nothingness. Three new spells materialized in their positions. **"Tin Hammer, to forge Tin Eatos."** A hammer slammed the ground to call out a metallic bird(500/500). **"Copper Scale to forge Copper Ouroboros."** Scales tilted to summon a bronze-like snake(500/500). **"Lead Compass, to forge Lead Lion." **The last item, a compass, formed a shining Lion(500/500). **"The Kettle allows one to forge Alchemic Beasts, resting within 'the extra deck'. They are my closest spirits.. and they will attack you." **The trio of beasts charged. "Are you suicidal?" Yet despite Barbaros standing in front of him, they circled around the hall and struck Colin from behind with wind, light and fire. "Gahdammit! Direct attackers!" He lost half his lifepoints that battle. **"Set trap card, end turn."**

Colins LP: 1500

_White Process - Albedo, Normal Spell  
__Remove from play all monsters on your side of the field.  
__Then select an equal number of 'Alchemic Beast' monsters in your extra deck and add the spell cards listed on those cards from your deck to your hand_

_Tin Hammer, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Tin Eatos' from your extra deck. _

_Copper Scale, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Copper Ouroboros' from your extra deck. _

_Lead Compass, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Lead Lion' from your extra deck. _

_Alchemy Beast - Tin Eatos, 3/500/500 Wind/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Tin Hammer'. This monster can attack your opponent directly._

_Alchemy Beast - Copper Ouroboros, 3/500/500 Light/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Copper Scale'. This monster can attack your opponent directly. _

_Alchemy Beast - Lead Lion, 3/500/500 Fire/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Lead Compass'. This monster can attack your opponent directly._

"..Draw." Colin received another card, which he almost looked at. "Gah!" He only saw the purple edge to confirm that it was a trap, yet he placed it facedown immediately. "Sairve, what are you doing?" Elias was told one could never set a card without looking at it. "I am not going to give him anything to see, especially not a trap." He sneaked a peek at the border of his other card, it was a trap as well. "I will let the dueldisk decide for me. that is what technology is for." He placed the second trap down as well. "You are dueling in our time now, Magus. Our machines can tell us when or when not to use a trap." He then attacked Lead Lion with Barbaros, easily destroying it with the King's spear. **".."** Naturally Ka removed the last card in his hand, Treasure from Another Dimension, to avoid getting damaged. "Feh. Your move."

"He killed one Alchemic Beast, but if Ka draws another spell.." Nero knew one more round like the last one would be Sairve's undoing. **"Treasure from the Other Dimension.." **Ka drew a nonspell during his draw phase, but he reactivated the Treasure spell to let both players take another card from their deck. Colin received Level Warrior, while the Magus received. **"Iron Key!" **And he did, the Magus activated the spell to special summon an Iron Salamander(500/500) from the extra deck. "Crap." And the three metallic animals swarmed around the duelist once more, releasing windblasts, light beams and earth spears. "Can I..?" But before they could near him, the dueldisk flashed a light beneath one of the set cards. "Aha! Negate Attack!" He flipped his counter trap now, stopping the battle phase entirely. "Ha, it worked!"

_Iron Key, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Iron Salamander' from your extra deck. _

_Alchemy Beast Iron Salamander 3/500/500 Earth/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Iron Key'. This monster can attack your opponent directly. _

"The disk told me I could, so I did activate my trap." He lived through this round after all. "Now. It's my turn." He drew his next card. **"Level 8 monster: Montage Dragon.." **Ka scanned his mind once more, and saw a powerful monster. There was one downside however. **"You can only summon that card by discarding 3 monsters from your hand."** He only had 1. "Yeah, not for much longer.. I activate Advance Draw! By tributing a level 8 monster I can draw 2 cards!" He sacrificed Barbaros, and gained two new cards: Subspatial Battle and Dark Resonator. **".. tuner?" **Ka was susprised, as were the others. "When did you start using Synchros? Did I miss something!" Carter asked him. "It's new to everyone. In fact I added a lot of new cards to my deck, just to keep the enemy in suspense. Like this one: Level Warrior. I can special summon it if my enemy controls monsters while I dont, and it's level will go up by 1." The sentai-like warrior(300/600) appeared and went from level 3 to 4. "Then I normal summon the tuner of the 3rd level, Dark Resonator, so I can synchro summon.." A demon with a tuner fork (1300/300) joined the Level Warrior, together they formed a level 7 monster. "Dark Strike Fighter!" It was the dive bomber (2600/1800).

"That card!" They had seen it before, when Conroy the soldier attacked the studio. "This card I added, because it's power fits my level theme. But this is not the strongest card I shall summon this turn! I activate Subspatial Battle: Both players will have to select 3 monsters from their deck and show them to each other. The one whose monsters are weakest will have to discard his cards and lose 500 LP for each card discarded, the stronger ones are added to my hand!" Colin took out three cards. **"If that is your game.." **So too did the Magus. However when they revealed their choices, Sairve came out as the winner. "Grinder Golem, Lava Golem, Starlight Golem. They are all stronger then your cards: Golden Homunculus, D.D. Assailant and D.D. Survivor." So Ka had to remove his three cards from play, and he took 1500 damage. **"And now you have what you need.." **Colin nodded. "I discard all three golems from my hand, to special summon Montage Dragon. It gains 300 attackpoints for all the levels of my golems (8+8+7=23, 23x300=6900)." A threeheaded masked dragon(6900/0) flew below the dungeon ceiling. "Kill his Beast with Power Collage!" The three heads fired a blast of energy that decimated the Tin Bird instantly.

Ka's LP: 5200

_Subspatial Battle, Normal Spell  
__Each player selects 3 monster cards from their deck and shows them to their opponent. These cards are then compared, from left to right.  
__The player who has the monster with the highest ATK adds that card to their hand. The player who has the monster with the lowest ATK takes 500 damage.  
__The cards added to a players hand by this effect can not be summoned or set during this turn. The rest of the cards are then sent to the Graveyard._

Naturally the Magus removed one card in his hand again, to avoid getting destroyed by the damage with a worth of 6400 points. "I expected that. But I theorize that you can only use your power once per turn, that is why you use traps every now and then. Time to test another theory!" His Synchro fired a hail of missiles towards the enemy. **"Dimension Trap." **Yet the target, Copper Ouroboros, was removed from play suddenly. **"I remove 1 monster to reuse one trap from the other dimension: Lost Force." **Instead Dark Strike Fighter hit the dimensional barrier. "Oh no! Now Colin will lose 2600 lifepoints!" A portal opened to absorb and redirect the missiles. "That is what you think, but guess what.." He flipped his last trap. "My disk tells me I can use this one now." It was an Energy-Absorbing Monolith, the black stone tanked the explosions and converted the damage to lifeforce. "You healed me instead, heh. Now I will hurt you some more: I use Dark Strike Fighter's effect!" Montage Dragon spontaneously combusted into a sea of napalm. "It tributes a monster of mine, and does 200 damage for every tributed level star." The flames headed straight for Ka, smothering the entire left side of the hall. _"I can not believe it.. I may win this!"_

Colins LP: 4100 Ka's LP: 3600

_Dimension Trap, Normal Trap  
__Remove from play 1 monster you control. Activate the effect of a trap card that has been removed from play._

"I felt that..."A voice came from the smoke, but it was decidedly less deep-sounding. "Huh?" They also heard something crack and fall to the ground. "His mask!" When the flames subsided, it became clear that the attack had damaged the armor of the Magus, and his mask was broken completely. "His.. don't you mean... hers?" And the face it hid until now, was definitely that of a female. A tanned young woman who kept her long black hair gathered up in a queue tied around her neck. "The Magus.. is a girl?" Elias seemed most stunned at this revelation. "Okay.. I did not see that coming. I mean.. how do you do that thing with your voice.. is it the mask?" Sairve could not explain why he suddenly felt to relieved. "I shall grant you the privelege to lay your eyes on this appearance. However, our game ends now.." She entered her turn and activated the spell Dimension Distortion. When no cards were in her grave, she could special summon a monster that was removed from play. And she called out the Golden Homunculus (8400/8400)

"What the hell? Why is that thing so.." The golden rock monster towered over Dark Strike Fighter and would even have been superior to Montage Dragon. "My element is Gold, Colin Sairve. This is my Homunculus.. it gains a strength bonus of 300 for each card I removed." There were 23; four alchemic beasts and their tools, five traps, three spells, Helios and six D.D. monsters. "You knew how this would end from the very beginning, what hope you built over the course of this game can not change that." Golden Homunculus finished it quickly, stomping down on the Jet fighter Synchro, taking all of Colins lifepoints away.

Colins LP: 0

"It does not matter from which generation Raness gets his priests, as long as they hold to their mortal ideals they can not overpower us who are one step closer to godhood!" Sairve lost all his strength, he was forced to kneel down. "I should have known." He sighed. "Don't worry Colin, you did well. Now we can.." William wanted to follow him, but he was distracted by someone else. "Elias?" The student was still standing there like a statue, his eyes wide open and his mouth sealed shut. "What happened to him?" Nero tried to move him. But that did not cause the reaction he had in mind. "AAAH!" He screamed out loud, and the Millenium Puzzle started to glow. "I.. I.." He started to speak, but his expression remained the same. "I know that face.. her face. It is.. in my head!" For reasons he did not understand, he had memories he never had before, and the Magus was included within them. "A reaction stemming from a forgotten memory?" She alone seemed to see what was going on. "Then.." And in the next instant, the light filled the dungeon.

And in fact the light also appeared at the film studio, only Christine and Cleo saw and felt. "What the hell is going on.." They soon saw nothing else, and they slipped into an unconscious state.

"..now." When they woke up, they were in a whole different realm. "Cleo, Christine!" And they were not alone. "Guys? Where did you come from?" The gang was all here, reunited from across the globe. "Hey these clothes.. this pyramid." The six saw that they were standing back on the altar where Raness first summoned Obelisk. "This is the world of memories again?" Behind them was the burning kingdom, and above them was a new spectacle to behold. "Pharaoh!" They saw Raness, with Obelisk at his side, dueling against the six Pillars all at once. He had seemingly taken down one of the two Dioscuri, and Hieroglyph was wounded as well. "You.." And neither he nor the servants of Ka had expected to see them here. "How did they follow us?" Thryall was certain he had left them outside the Puzzle. **"It is because a memory was triggered."** Even the Magus was present, still unmasked but her voice had returned to the dark tone. "A memory?" And when Raness looked up, he saw the true identity of his arch-enemy. And it all came back to him..

"No.. it can not.. be.. Senes?"

(To be Continued in New Testament 074: Little Sister Senes)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Level Warrior  
Dark Resonator  
Dark Strike Fighter  
Montage Dragon

_-  
Subspatial Battle (*)  
_Energy Absorbing Monolith

**New Cards used by 'The Dark Pillar' Ka  
**_Alchemy Beast Tin Eatos (++)  
__Alchemy Beast Copper Ouroboros (++)  
__Alchemy Beast Lead Lion (++)  
__Alchemy Beast Iron Salamander (++)  
_D.D. Assailant  
Golden Homunculus

_-  
Treasure from a Different Dimension (+)  
__Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill (++)  
_Chaos Greed  
_White Process - Albedo  
__Tin Hammer (++)  
__Copper Scale (++)  
__Lead Compass (++)  
__Iron Key (++)  
_Dimension Distortion

-  
_Dimension Trap (+++)_

_(*) Based on the Spell used by Yudai/Jaden in the last episode of YGO GX  
__(+) Based on the Spell used by Zane/Ryo in YGO GX  
__(++) Based on the Cards used by Amnael in YGO GX  
__(+++) Based on the Trap used by Andore in YGO 5Ds_


	74. Little Sister Senes

**New Testament 074:**** Little Sister Senes**

"Did I just hear that right?" Cleo asked the others with her on the altar. "You did." They all heard the same thing. "His sister.. Ka is his sister?!" Raness now recognized the face behind the mask, the memory returned and was undeniable. "We saw his relatives in the Memory World before.. I can see the resemblance to 'Senes'." Nero recalled that that was her name, at least that was the name in this world and time. "Then how.. did she become like that?" Christine and the others had not seen or known her that much. But none could imagine how she ended up like this, the master of shadows, the Magus Ka.

**"So you remember..now.." **She had heard him as well, calling her 'sister'. "Is that.. what you wanted me to realize? That you.." Raness still had problems adjusting to the flow of images from his past, bits and pieces of a messed up history came to light. **"I wanted to face you, as an equal. But even now, you are beneath me.. and your old self. The Lord of the three Gods." **And right now he could only remember the name of one, Obelisk who stood besides him "You.. you followed our mothers footsteps.." Lady Neith covered up his fathers death, and ruled the kingdom in his place. But she died during the Atlantian invasion, necessitating the search for a successor. "You inherited the Millennium Eye from her, but you were still young.. It's power corrupted you. And then you found ways to use the Eye against the others, against me.."

**"That was... how you chose to see it. That was what you had to be told to want to fight.." **She turned around and gazed over the burning kingdom that once belonged to her brother. **"I have outgrown you, Raness. We are no longer siblings in any form of the word; while you have been sleeping for thousands of years I have been preparing the process of perfection." **She opened her hand and manifested a dark sphere within. **"Through the Millenium Eye I learned the true nature of the world, the hidden thoughts of mankind and the darkest sins. I even learned about the feelings festering inside my own body. It sickened me, Raness.. But now.." **The sphere disappeared. **"We are within reach of the power that can grant us absolution for all darkness. All you need is to hand it over to me, the Puzzle of the King." **Her one normal eye narrowed. **"But I can already see it in your mind. You do not want to give it away... You have no faith in my design, you only believe in the power of gods.."**

"Why should he believe you!" Cleo spoke up when Raness himself did not. "That Priest guy told us about you, lady; how you created servants by torturing people and making their inner demons grow strong. You amassed an army of 'pillars' to stand against the Pharaoh. And not only that, anyone would find it hard to trust someone who is called 'lord of the shadows'." She yelled loud enough for the whole group to hear her. "And then your servants slaughter people needlessly. Use souls as common goods." Nero and the rest chimed in as well. "You do not care at all about human life!" William would know from experience. "Oh yes you are here too." the Iron Pillar, Zakarias scowled. "We do not waste souls, all human life will be reshapen, even the ones resting in hell and heaven. You forget who you are talking too, our creator can read any mind he or she wishes, she understands your kind better than you do yourself." He turned back to his master. "Creator, please let us dispose of the children as well. They do not deserve to be a part of this ceremony."

"You will do no such thing!" Raness shouted. He did not understand how they had entered this world, but he would not let them die here. "Obelisk, God Hand Impact!" His god soldier fired a beam of divine energy towards the gathered pillars. "You will deal with me first." However they all dispersed, several approached the Pharaoh from his side. "As you wish, I shall complete my mission!" Archon, Dioscure and Fatimah were about to attack, but Raness had enough energy left to chant a spell. "Swords of Revealing Light!" In fact he used a spell card, the swords of light surrounded the silver and copper pillar, the mercury servant managed to get out of their range. "Trying to take us down one at a time he is." The twin noted, as Obelisk had already overpowered his other half. "If that is his wish, so be it. Only I can crush him. "Archon grunted.

He turned to look back at his 'sister'. "Senes! This is not the way! You are hiding behind these 'pillars' that you made, just like before. If you want my puzzle, fight me yourself!" Now the girls normal eye twitched. "Senes.." She spoke her name with her human voice. "That is a name I have abandoned long ago. I am Ka now.. **Seneska; if you still desire to cling on to our blood." **But that tone did not last long. **"We did eventually face one and other, Raness. And Iwas the stronger.. you could only win by sacrificing everything you stood for. You sealed a part of me with you in the puzzle I was trying to claim as my own. Yet you sacrificed all that you knew. I could simply call out the names of the two remaining gods for you, but that would not be the same.." **And before anything more could be said, chains shot out from nowhere and grabbed Raness by the neck and arms. "Oh no!" Christine and William realized what was going on, Zakarias had snuck up on the Pharaoh while he was focusing on Seneska. "Paradius." Hellish fire flared up, Zakarias summoned a scythe in his hand. "No! We have to do something!" The duelists could not reach him in time. "You will not even survive me, Pharaoh.." The Iron Pillar lashed out.

"!"

However the Pharaoh's life was spared at the last second, as a bright crimson force encircled him. "What?" The Pillar broke his scythe upon that force, which took on a more solid shape. **"He called it.." **It coiled up into the sky like a gigantic serpent, and sprouted wings that pierced the ash like clouds. A great red dragon had been summoned, a beast with two mouths instead of one. "That thing.. one of the three images." Jackson had seen it before, chiselled out in stone. "I remembered it again.. the name of the second Lord, the ruler of Heavens." Raness held the card in his hand, a red card. "Saint Dragon - Osiris!"

Now there were two gods by his side, the soldier of Earth and the Dragon of the Sky. **"One remains.." **Nevertheless Seneska maintained her distance. "Tsk..He damaged my Ka.." Zakarias retreated while dismissing his shattered weapon. The chains broke down as well. "Iron Pillar. Release me.. I have the Ka that can take his down." Archon was still trapped in the Swords of Light. "No. Let us wait it out." Hieroglyph suddenly approached the two. "Wait? Why? We can not disappoint our creator by dawdling!" Zakarias protested. Their numbers were dwindling already. Hieroglyph himself was injured, Zakarias had lost a lot of energy, Thryall could not intervene because he had to keep Raness's spirit from returning to Elias. "There is someone else whose Ka can deal with the gods." But one remained free to target Raness. "Fight.. me." Fatimah closed in on the spirit and his two divine allies. "One on one?" He sensed no fear from her. "One on One." She repeated, and she manifested a line of cards. "This is.. the way."

Fatimah's LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 8000

"They are dueling?" It seemed that way, although neither player used a dueldisk. "In any case it seems their lifeforce is still at the upper limit." Meaning none had touched the Pharaoh so far. "Alright, I begin with both gods already on my field, and they strike right now!" He revealed six cards in his hand. "Osiris gains a thousand for each card in my hand." The Dragon rose in strength (6000/6000). It and Obelisk(4000/4000) charged their attacks. "He can strike already? It must be a real-time duel.." Nero said, referencing the way the Orichalcos soldiers used to play. "Then I call For..t..une Lady Li..ight. Fortune Lady Light." And in a real-time duel, the opponent could summon whenever she wanted, as long as she had something in her hand. In Fatimah's case, she called out a scantily-clad blonde spellcaster of level 1 (200/200). "But now you trigger the special ability of Osiris: Summon Lightning Shot! Whenever a monster is summoned, it loses two thousands!" Osiris opened its second mouth. "And anything reduced to zero this way, Osiris kills!"

The crimson dragon released its Lightning blast. "Dimension.. Hole" But she used a spell that removed Lady Light from play before she was hit. "Then a direct attack: God Hand Crusher and Thunder Force!" The two gods charged with beams and fists. "But now ..I trigger..ed the special effect.. of the Lady." When Light was removed from the field by an effect, she could summon another 'Fortune Lady' from her deck. The new magical lady was redheaded and crimson-colored instead of yellowish blonde(400/400). "Fortune.. Lady.. Fir.. e.. Fire.. It kills a monster, and.. it sacrificed blood.. from his master." It all happened so suddenly, the fiery lady created a ball of flames and hurled it at Osiris. "What the?" Then in the next instant, the dragon's body was pierced through, and the fire burned Raness directly. "How did.. god's can not be touched or destroyed by monsters whose of a lower class!" He gasped out in pain. He lost lifepoints equal to the attack of the now dying Osiris, that was the ability of Fortune Lady Fire. "My Ka... special ability."

Raness's LP: 2000

And then Fatimah revealed something, a spirit floating behind her. **"You finally see it then?" **Seneska asked him from above. **"The Ka's they developed under my watchful eye.." **Behind Fatimah stood a tall woman in green and blue robes, her hands held a spindle and wheel. **"This is the inner spirit of the Mercury Pillar: Atropos. During a shadowgame she gives a 'duelist' the ability to cancel out immortality itself. Not even a god can use its resistances to mundane curses when it faces Fatimah in battle.." **As if to demonstrate that point, Fatimah used a spell: Magical Dimension. It removed Fortune Lady Fire from the field before Obelisk could attack it, and summoned a new spellcaster to the field from a magical coffin; a witch riding a goatlike creature(1800/0). "Catoblepas and the Witch of Fate." In return, the spell destroyed one monster on the field: Obelisk. "This is not possible." The soldier of earth died just as easily as the dragon, leaving Raness unprotected. "Dude." Even the duelists were stunned.

"It is.. possible." Fatimah wanted to start her turn for real. "I set two traps!" He tried to put up a last defense. "No.." Fortune Lady Light returned from the Dimensional hole(200/200), and during the standby phase her level went up from 1 to 2 due to her effect. Her effect also gave her 200 attackpoints for each level she had (400/400). "Not.." And then she normal summoned Fortune Lady Wind, the green wind elemental mistress(900/900). She gained 300 attackpoints instead of 200 for each level. "Destroy set traps... for all.. fortune lady.." Fatimah used her effect, the Windy lady released one spell and trap shattering wind blast for each Fortune Lady she controlled. "Gah." Both his traps were removed. "I summon a monster!" He tried to use one more card in his hand. "No, not." Yet Fatimah could negate that as well, the Catoblepas-riding Witch used her wand to hold his summon down somehow, leaving his field empty. "Then.. a direct attack." Her witches unleashed their elemental attacks, pushing him down towards the pyramid.

Raness's LP: 0

"No, this can not be.. this can not.." He had lost it all. **"Our Ka and their unique abilities have only been improved over the millennia, Raness. Ka like Atropos, Paradius.. Azoth.." **As she spoke, for a small period of time a figure could be seen behind her, flickering in and out of existence. **"You who rely on other Ka's can not vanquish those that have fused with their own. And this was just the first step of ascension. You may call my methods cruel, but in the end such words will lose all meaning." **She lowered herself to the altar as well, in the middle of all the duelists. **"You were all witness to his defeat, priests of the new millennium. You too can not deny what has happened here. You came because of your connection to Raness's awakening, and now you shall return.. to my world." **She ignored them, and they were too shocked to make a move. "Senes..you don't know.. what you're doing." Raness coughed. **"Rest easy 'brother', this moment has been coming for an eternity.."**

Then with another lightflash everyone returned to the physical plane, Colin, Nero, William and Jackson were back in the dungeon hall. "What is wrong?" Elias immediately asked as he saw the others react strangely. "What is.. wrong? You started screaming and then we.. our minds.. how much time has passed?" As far as they know, they spent about ten minutes away from here. "You.. did not go away at all." He replied, though he himself was not sure if he had been dazed for a while or not. Because he was standing in a different spot now. "But I did not scream.. I think." However even if he did not, he was about to. "Waah!!" When the Magus approached him and snatched the Puzzle right from his neck. "This is mine now." She said with a faint tint of satisfaction in her voice. "What, why?" Gained protested. As far as he knew, nothing had happened yet. "You can feel it for yourself, the Pharaoh lost my challenge." The Pillars around her started to twitch, slowly coming back to life. Thryall, the holder of the Millennium Ring was the first to come back. **"Now.. all seven are willing." **She raised her hands and six items sprawled across the floor began to glow. And then in one sickening display she placed her clawed fingers around her right eye and yanked the Millenium Item from her socket. **"The ritual for the gate of Alkahest can begin.." **She smiled as the bloodied eye started glowing as well.

(To be Continued in New Testament 075: Both Ways)

**New Cards used by Raness  
**Osiris, the Saint Dragon

**Cards used by Fatimah  
**Fortune Lady Light  
Fortune Lady Fire  
Catoblepas and the Witch of Fate  
Fortune Lady Wind

-  
Dimensionhole  
Magical Dimension


	75. Both Ways

**New Testament 075: Both Ways**

"We have to stop her!" The duelists watched how the noe one-eyed Seneska started the ritual. "You lack the right." However in between them and the Magus stood the Lead Pillar, Thryall. "Without the Pharaoh by your side, you are powerless. If you attempt to intervene in our creator's work, I shall not hesitate to terminate you." Unfortunately for them, an unseen wall seemed to have been raised around the enemy, they could not get near. **"They shall resist, Lead Pillar. Even without the eye I can see that. You may teach them the futility of their actions, but do not squander their souls just yet. I want the 'priests' to see this moment.." **Thryall nodded and returned to glare at the duelists. Elias did not know enough to make a choice, Colin was still exhausted and Jackson was no longer interesting. "I will take you on! I owe your kind for putting me through hell in the first place." That left Jacobus and Carter, the latter of which challenged him right now. "But William, your deck was burned.." Nero said to him. "What, did you think that would stop me?" He took out another deck from his coat. "As the brother of Andre, I can afford as many decks as I want." Jackson seemed to understand, as he gave him a dueldisk. "Thanks Jack.." He activated it. "Now, it is on, mummy-boy."

Williams LP: 8000 Thryalls LP: 8000

"You insist, and I shall not deny you the privelege." Thryall summoned his own 'dueldisk' again, from his own rotting arm. "And I shall lead." He slowly drew six cards. "Do not stall for time!" William got impatient already. "You wish to be slain quickly?" He placed two trap cards facedown. "No, I wish to end this all!" He shouted back. "Heh. Don't we all... I summon this monster: The Knight of Armageddon." Nero flinched as he remembered that Jacob used that card as well, the Knight of the End(1400/1200) that sent a dark monster to the grave when called out. "I discard Stygian Street Patrol. A fiend with a special power.." He took his time to remove the Hellway cop from his graveyard. "By removing this Patroller from play, one will call a fiend with less then two thousand attackpoints from his hand." Out came a male/female humanoid demon with wings(0/0). "What the?" Jackson gasped. He had heard about this card from Lydia's reports. "That must be.. Yubel. That monster can not be killed in battle and deflects any pain his owner receives.." And Yubel had a second effect, she would die during the endphase, unless a monster was sacrificed. "I sacrifice the Knight, and end my turn." Tentacles burst out of the stone floor to drag the warrior to his grave.

"I see. Then I must not attack it, until I destroy it with effects...I special summon Cyber Dragon(2100/1600) with it's effect! And then I use the spell: Evolution Burst! When I control a Cyber Dragon, this spell destroys 1 card on the field!" The machine serpent appeared and shot a laser blast that pierced right through Yubel's chest. "That will not work." However, instead of dying, the body of the demon started to convulse and expand. "The hell?" It turned into its second dragonic form, The Terror Incarnate(0/0). "It summons another when it is killed by an effect? In that case.." He had no time to stand around and be impressed. "I normal summon Armored Cybern(0/2000), and equip it to Cyber Dragon." The Union dragonmech fused with the Cyber monster, and lowered its attackpoints(1100/1600). "I can give up a thousand of Cyber Dragons attackpoints to destroy 1 monster you control!" The machine's new cannons fired and blew up the twoheaded demon in one shot. "Also to no avail.." However now Yubel could summon its third and final form.

The Terror transformed into the Ultimate Nightmare(0/0)."Geez that thing got ugly very quickly.." Colin managed to say despite his exhaustion. "Trap card: All Out Attacks." At this point Yubel used his continuous trap. "All monsters summoned by effects, like your dragon, will have to attack." Meaning that at the very least Colin would suffer 1100 damage this turn. "Power Wall!" Or 2100 damage, as Will for some reason activated the spell that gave his monster 100 attackpoints for cards he discarded from his deck. "Why.." Ten cards were discarded, but to Carter only five mattered. "I have one more trump to play. Cyber Eltanin! I can special summon this card by removing all Light-type machines in the grave and on the field from play!" He removed the discarded light-machines, and Cyber Dragon(2100/1600) itself. The monsters were all combined for one large metallic dragonhead(3000/0) and several smaller ones. "Cyber Eltanin gains 500 attackpoints for each removed monster, and.. he removes all other monsters from the field!"

Thryall acted shocked, when a large blast of light engulfed and desintegrated the final form of Yubel. "I guess he can not transform anymore. Then I will attack you directly!" The six heads fired one joined burst. "Limit Reverse!" However Thryall stopped looking surprised and activated his trap to revive a monster with 1000 attack or less. "No!" He revived the original Yubel(0/0). "Due to All-Out Attacks.." Carter could not cancel his order, but he could remedy it. "Hardware Replacements!" With one last quickplay spell. "Eltanin copies the effect of a machine in my graveyard. I choose CyberDark Edge, which allows Eltanin to strike directly doing half damage!" Suddenly the beam changed its course and circled around Yubel to hit Thryall directly. "!!!" He was hit square in the chest, and knocked down. "Now I end my turn.."

Thryalls LP: 6500

_Hardware Replacements, Quickplay Spell  
__Select 1 level 4 or lower machine-type monster in your graveyard and equip it to a machine-type monster you control.  
The card equipped with the monster gains any effects the equipped monster may have. If the monster card would be destroyed by battle, the equipped monster is destroyed instead._

"You avoided the pain.. that took skill." Thryall said rather calmly. "Your determination as admirable." He placed three trap cards facedown. "But I see no way for you to win.." He then switched Yubel to defense mode. This however activated the drawback of Limit Reverse, who would only keep a monster revives as long as it was in attack position. "The Terror.. returns." Of course this only helped as he could now transform Yubel into his second form once again. "I see. You had no monsters in your hand so you wanted to avoid the endphase cost. But.." Now in his second form, Yubel would destroy all other monsters on the field. Luckily William could sacrifice the equippped CyberDark Edge to keep Eltanin alive. "Fellow Sacrifice failed." The tentacles could not drag anything down. "Then is is your move.."

Yet as he drew his card, Yubel activated three trap cards at once. "An Unfortunate Report; your next battlephase will take place twice. Foolish Revival; one monster in your cemetery will be revived. And Battle Mania; all monsters on the field will switch to attack position and have to attack until this turn ends." It was one-turn kill combo, the Reviving trap brought out the Twinheaded Behemoth(1500/1200) he had discarded through Power Wal. "1500 times 2 plus 3000 times 2.." Elias did the math and realized William was about to lose all his lifepoints. "Then I will sacrifice my monsters, I tribute them both for.. Tyrant...Dragon?" He tried to perform the summon, but it did not work. And soon the two battle phases had begun and his two monsters attacked Yubel twice each. "What, how?" He received a total of 9000 effect damage, more than enough pain. "Gaaahhh!!!!" He was shocked by Yubel's aura, until he was forced to kneel before Thryall. "You lost.. to my Ka.." Thryall said coldly. "Your.. Ka.." William struggled to get out the words.

Williams LP: 0

"Just like with the Mercury Pillar?" Jackson asked Thryall. "Yes. I was forced to use its power for the first time... " Briefly the image of another mummified entity could be made out. "Praenomen, the ruler of sacrifice. It alone will decide what offerings can and can not be performed." He explained his own special power. "Damn it." William could not believe it, each pillar had such a reality-bending power. "It is okay William. You did what you could, you made him reveal his Ka." Doe told him. "So he did. But by now enough time will have passed for my creator to.." He wanted to say something, but could not because.. "Creator?" Nothing had happened yet. Seneska still stood in front of her throne, holding the Millennium items around her in a circle of black light. "Is something wrong?" Thryall sounded concerned. **"... It seems summoning the gate will take more power then even I had calculated.." **She looked annoyed as well. The items were still glowing, and she was still feeding them energy, like she had read.

**"_This was how the Millenium Tome told me to perform the ritual, so why..."_** She closed her organic eye and sighed. **"Lead Pillar.. exterminate them" **She said all of the sudden. "Wh-what?" They were understandably stunned. "Wait, what was that about us seeing your big moment of glory? What are you affraid it wont happen now!?" Nero snapped at her. **"Your presence contaminates the ritual. That must be it. Such flawed beings go against the purity needed to invoke the gate." **She started to float upwards, the shadows of the ceiling opening for her. **"I shall finish the process elsewhere. Lead Pillar, I trust you to remove their souls from this realm.." **Thryall nodded in agreeance, and Seneska disappeared along with the seven items. The remaining motionless pillars also sank wordlessly into the shadows of the hall, leaving just the duelists and the Lead Pillar. "Hey, do not go just like.." Elias shouted after her. "It is of no use. I shall follow my creators wishes. Two of you have already been broken..." He only needed to crush three more before he could claim their souls. "Then I will take you on next, you monster!" Nero cursed.

Nero activated his dueldisk immediately. Like William said, time was off the essence. "Now that I know your ability, I can work around it." He turned to Jackson. "My deck is best suited anyway, fusions are not tributes as far as I remember." Jackson did not protest, as he was not even sure how he a duel would be like in his new state of mind. "The fusionist.. I accept your duel." Thryall reshuffled the cards in his deck. "You were the one to host Jacob, and allowed the one that renewed my life to return. As a tribute, I shall let you go first." Now the enemy was oddly polite, but Nero was not about to turn such an offer down. "Draw!" In his first turn he placed one monster facedown and one trap card as well. "Your move." Thryall also seemed to move quicker, now that his master was not looking over his shoulder anymore. "I too shall set one card facedown, and I activate this spell." He played the Savage Colosseum, the same field that had caused Ceasar to lose his duel. "In this arena, attack is the only option.. cowards shall die.."

Nero's LP: 8000 Thryalls LP: 8000

Yet he did not place a monster down, leaving himself wide open in the middle of the roman arena. _"That one trap must then be.."_ But he was more concerned about the field spell, in the long run it was better to not have to attack every turn. "I activate Emergency Call, and Add Elemental Hero Stratos to my hand. I then normal summon him!" Since he called out the hero of air(1800/400), he could choose to destroy one spell for every Hero he controlled. "I destroy the Colosseum!" And as quick as it had come, it disappeared in a hail of wind. "Nevertheless I shall attack now!" He ordered Stratos to punch the enemy, and the trap was not used to stop him. "..." Thryall reeled from the blow, already having lost more life then in his previous duels. "Trap card: Damage Condenser." But only because he willed it. He wanted to srping his trap that summoned a monster with less attack than the damage he had taken, at the cost of a discard. "Oh crap." He discarded a Treeborn Frog, and out came his strongest fiend, the androgynous Yubel(0/0).

Thryalls LP: 6200

"Already." William moaned. ".. I end my turn." Nero had no means of destroying it just yet. "Draw." The Lead Pillar moved to his turn. "Treeborn Frog is revived during the standby phase." From his grave came a halo-wearing frog(100/100). "Two trap cards.. and that is all." Yubel could only do damage when she/he was attacked fortunately. "Then Treeborn Frog will be the sacrifice for Yubel." The frog was taken up by the tendrils of the ground. "Your move, fusionist." Nero drew another card and summoned the Neo-Spacian Dark Panther(1000/500). "That monster can copy effects of other monsters.." But copying Yubel would do him no good at all. ... I have been meaning to ask you. Thryall was your name right?" Nero asked him abruptly. "Yes.." Thryall wondered why. "To claim the Millennium Ring, you had to duel someone... What happened to him?" He referred to Ceasar Andrews, the one who tried to hold back the enemy in Germany. Nobody had heard of him afterwards. "You still believed those that oppose us can be spared?"

The duelists cringed, that was not the answer they wanted to hear. "I did what our kind does to all tainted souls once they are beaten; we burn their physical forms and store their souls away. Zakarias had his way of doing it, I have mine." He spoke about it very matter-of-factly, which just pissed Nero off more. "Then he is dead." He said angrily. "That is how you see it." He replied calmly. "..damn you." He flip summoned his set monster, Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab(1300/500). Then he activated Hero Mask, discarding Neos from his deck to rename the beetle into E-Hero Neos. "Contact Fusion!" And he then fused the Panther with the 'Neos' monster, forming the hero of darkness: E-Hero Dark Neos(2500/2000). "Yes! That one can negate a monsters effects entirely!" Elias cheered. Dark Neos would seal Yubels damage-returning effect and his immortality. "To people like you, who treat human life like spoiled goods, I will have no mercy! Dark Neos, Attack!!" And then the dark warrior slashed down the mighty fiend with a blade of shadows.

Thryalls LP: 3700

(To be Continued in New Testament 076: Das Schiksal der Helden)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Cyber Eltanin

-  
_Hardware Replacements_

**New Cards used by Thryall  
**Armageddon Knight  
Stygian Street Patrol

-  
All-Out Attacks  
Battle Mania  
Foolish Revival  
Damage Condenser


	76. Das Schiksal der Helden

**New Testament 076: Das Schiksal der Helden**

"Wait.." Christine snapped back to reality. "!" She was back in the smashed up studio, away from the world of memories. "Oh no." She had seen everything, she had seen Raness lose. And that could only lead to the ritual that Ka had described. "... how long was I out for?" She saw a clock still hanging on the wall, which told her a few minutes had passed. She did not know it, but because her and Cleo's spirit had travelled further then those of the others, more time was needed for them to return. "Hey.. where is.. Madlyn?" And now she realized that the flower girl she had been dueling a while ago was not at her original spot. "Did she run.. because she feared more soldiers would come for her?" Though nobody had answered Cleo's hails yet, she could not have known that as her friend was still stuck down below. ".. the elevator is back up. Did Marcus flee as well?" She stood up to finally inspect the place. And soon to her surprise, she saw someone standing just outside the doors. "Madlyn!" She shouted at the girl, who seemed to transfixed with what was up in the air to respond. "The sky.. is not normal.." She said, as Rose approached her. "What?" Confused she looked up as well, and saw for herself, the unnatural.. "This.. this ..is.."

Nero's LP: 8000 Thryalls LP: 3700

Nero had the lead, Dark Neos(2500/2000) succesfully sealed the powers of Yubel and vanquished the demoness of pain. "Direct attack!" He would not let up, he sent Elemental Hero Stratos(1800/400) to strike as well. "First my trap: Sinister Seeds." Unfortunately Thryall could use his facedown card after one of his monsters was destroyed and he was hurt. "I shall summon seed-tokens, for every 500 points of damage I took." He was given 2500 damage, so he could fill his entire field with defending demonic seeds(100/100). "Blast it.. " Stratos had to alter his plans and shattered one of the five tokens with a windblast. "I believe during the endphase your Neos fusions return to the extra deck." The enemy stated. "You would be right." Nero grumbled as Dark Neos vanished from the dungeon hall. "But at least.. I gave you unwanted pain.."

"Pain.." Thryall repeated. "I have not felt that in a long time... Not since I allied myself with Yubel.." Indeed, he did not seem too shaken up by Dark Neos's attack at all. "My entire existence revolves around this one spirit. So you should not just be satisfied with doing damage.. for the immortal will never stay away.. forever." He activated the spell Dark Eruption. "That spell?" It would send a dark monster with 1500 atk or less back to Thryalls hand, and he picked Yubel of course. "And with Praenomen as my Ka, I know how much needs to be sacrificed before pain goes away forever as well.." He sacrificed two of the seeds to bring out the level 8 fiend(0/0). Then he placed a trap card down and tributed the fourth token for Yubel in his endphase. "Pain is what tells us that we are alive, that we are awake." Jackson said from the sidelines. "To me it does not sound like you are living.. much less immortal." Thryall glanced at the symbolist. "Pain is just another weakness, one that humans crave while they deny perfection.. Who am I to say no.."

"Enough talk about pain. What you people did goes far beyond that!" To steal souls was far worse than to physically agonize someone. "I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman" He called out the living tree warrior(1000/2000). "Then I equip Stratos with Heated Heart, raising his attackpoints and giving him piercing abilities." The airman powered up(2300/400). "He will attack your last token!" He wanted to destroy anything that Yubel could sacrifice. However.. "Staunch Defender." Thryall used yet one more trap. "When you dare to strike, I will redirect all attackers to the spirit of my choice." To his dismay, both the aerial and forest heroes were drawn towards Yubel, and they slammed their fists into the demon/demoness for all the good it did. "You shall only feel pain..." 3200 points worth of damage were reflected towards the duelist, it felt as if he was pushed against an electric fence. "Aaaargh!!!" Smoke rose from his body as he dropped to one knee. "I am..not dead yet." He clenched his hand and rose again. "I set.. a trap. And end my turn.."

Nero's LP: 4700

"...." Thryall observed the field. He said nothing and simply went to the end of his turn as well. "Nothing?" He tributed the last seed-token to keep Yubel on his field. "He is content with the way the field is now.." Elias felt that Nero would walk into another trap soon. "The effect of Woodsman activates during my standby phase." Nero said as he drew a card. "I can add Polymerization from my deck to my hand." He took out the Fusion spell. "I use it now!" He fused Woodsman on his field with Neos Alius in his hand. "One earth-type and one Hero... together they form Elemental Hero Gaia." The fused result was the metal-plated Elemental(2200/2600). "Trap card: All-Out-Attacks." Thryall's answer to that was to flip his permanent trap which William knew all too well. That card would make all special summoned cards, like Gaia, attack Yubel without hesitation. "I figured as much. But now I use this.. Hero Blast! I add one normal elemental hero to my hand and destroy 1 monster whose attack is lower then that of the returned Hero!" He retook the Gemini monster, Neos Alius(1900/1300), who counted as a normal monstr while in the grave. Now he could destroy Yubel who did not even have attackpoints. "All you do.. is worsen your suffering.."

Yubel was destroyed once more, except this time she/he could special summon its second form. "Terror Incarnate." The demonic twoheaded dragon returned(0/0), and still had to be attacked by Gaia due to his continuous trap card. "I will kill Yubel one piece at a time, if that is what it takes!" Gaia charged up and threw a rock from the floor at Yubel. She of course deflected it with her tendrils and returned fire with electricity. "Hang on Nero!" Jackson shouted as he was zapped again. "Ggghnn. I will live." He ended his turn, he still needed to destroy two more cards. "... You take the pain well." Thryall said as he placed two trap cards down. The fact that he placed that amount worried William, this could be another repeat of the combo that crushed him. "Could it be that your experience with the fragment improved your resistance?"

Nero's LP: 2500

"..I have known pain. We all have." He had lost friends, he had lost family. He could not even tell when his father and mother would wake up again. "You are speaking of emotional pain as well. About loss and fear. These concepts mean little to me.. and will mean little to us all once the ascension begins. It will all just..." He ended his turn. "..fade." Then the detestable one opened the eye on its chest and unleashed a widespread blast that destroyed Stratos and Gaia. "His effect..." And Yubel would do that every turn. "It is not that, Thryall. This is not about who caused more grief. I am not giving in to the agony, not because I can.. but because I have to. To save life, to save all souls. I just can not let your master do what she said she would do, it goes against every natural order." Thryall tilted his head. "Then you are willing to burden the heart for the sake of the spirit and soul.. You are a human above others.. to do that much. And yet.." He flipped his two traps as soon as Nero began his turn. "You will end beneath me.."

It was as William had feared, he activated Foolish Revival. "Neos?" The revival card placed E-Hero Neos(2500/2000) back on the field, All-out Attacks forced into an attacking position and into a berserker state. And one deflected attack from Neos would be enough to finish off Nero. "No! I will not go down that easily!" He summoned another monster to his field. "Elemental Hero - Ice Edge." A By discarding one card from my hand, he can attack directly!" He discarded a dark warrior from his hand. "And when it does damage, one facedown spell or trap card will be destroyed!" And that was not all; the card he discarded appeared in the shadow of All-Out Attacks, a dark-clothed assassin(600/1100) dragged it face-down. "Shadow Gardna. By removing it from my grave, 1 card on the field swill switch to face-down position. I use it on your continuous trap!" He knew that Yubel still could not be killed in battle, so putting it in defense was pointless. "Now Ice Edge strikes, and All-Out Attacks will shatter!" Both Thryall and his set trap were pelted with ice shards.

Thryall: 2900

_Shadow Gardna, 4/600/1100 Dark/Warrior_  
_When this card is in your graveyard, you can remove it from play to switch 1 card on the field to face-down position. _

"You could have ended the torment just now. Yet you choose to stay by its side for a little while longer.." Nero ended his turn again. "Torment? What about you?" But he was not the one to respond, Elias spoke up. "You say you can not be in pain, yet your body is wrapped up as if you were wounded all over." He found it odd that Thryall was the only Pillar that looked 'injured'. "And you said before, that Seneska renewed your life. But we heard that she created her servants by torturing them until they had grown demonic Ka, like yours." Jackson recalled all this from just now and the conversation with Zevgar. "... You understand nothing." Thryall said, suddenly sounding more insulted than impressed. He did not even spend time with his turn and went straight for the endphase, as Yubel destroyed both Ice Edge and Neos. "I have forgotten my first name, and my sin, but I remember the day of my rebirth like as if it had happened just one instant ago. Ever since I have not been thinking back to my flawed human life.."

"I was punished for my flaw. I was, as you called me in jest, mummified.. alive." He took out his hand and unwrapped it, it looked quite rotten. "And as I lay there in my coffin, waiting for death to come.. she came. The gracious creator, she rejuvenated my dying body and removed hunger, she gave me a new life. All I had to give in return was an eye, a piece of my heart and undying loyalty. This body is a testament to her, to the darkness that was given a new name: Thryall." He clenched his hand, until dark blood oozed out of it. "So yes I was tortured, my soul was twisted. But not by Ka, she gave me .. purpose." He took out his compass, the tool that held his mortal heart. "After thousands of years, I can affect this world again.." He closed it. "Now my purpose is to help the creator, to protect her from people like you. Question us all you want, you will not convince me to step aside." He pointed his bleeding hand at Nero. "Continue the game! Your extermination awaits!" Nero drew his next card at last. "I will!"

He activated Fifth Hope, drawing two new cards by returning five E-Heroes (Stratos, Ice Edge, Gaia, Neos and Woodsman) from the graveyard. "Here I come.." He summoned the Neos Alius, and equipped him(1600/1400) with a spell card: Light Laser. "This spell gives a light-warrior the ability to remove the monster from play after the battle steps!" He planned to do more than destroying Yubel, he wanted to trap it in another dimension. "It will hurt me, but I am willing to go that far!" Neos fired off his handheld laser and pierced through the dragonic demon. He suffered the deflected damage once more, but the hit had landed. "It works!" The others cheered as the Terror Incarnate began to erode, the glowing wound ate away its entire body. ".." until nothing was left. "That.. was futile." But despite this trick, the ground started to shake. "No.." And from the tiles the third form of Yubel erupted, the many-faced Nightmare was summoned (0/0). "Whether you kill or banish, once the Terror leaves the field the Dragon of Sorrow is given life."

Nero's LP: 900

Nero had not foreseen this, now Yubel could deflect damage even during his turns. "..I set two traps." Alius was still holding the Light Laser, however even if he could remove Yubel from play, Nero would first lose all his lifepoints. "Thryall!" He suddenly shouted. "Are you still the owner of the Millenium Ring?" Before he officially ended his turn. "Why ask now, Nero? You are about to lose.." He entered the battle phase, despite the threat of removal. "Because.. if I win, and I become the new owner of the Ring, the ritual will not proceed as planned. Right?" The Lead Pillar noticed how he did not sound desperate, even now. ".. I can not say. But if that is what you desire to challenge me for.. " He raised his hand and suddenly white tendrils came from the ground. "Hey what?" Attacking Colin and Carter. "What are you doing!?" He watched as they were wrapped up tightly before his eyes, they could not even scream before they were mummified completely. "That was to secure their souls, those are spiritual treads that will slowly drain their Ba. A similar end awaits everyone.. Nero Jacobus, now that you have challenged me for the right of the item, I can ask something in return."

"When I win, I shall drain all your souls this way, at once! You must stake everything on this duel!" Yubel was about to attack. "Do you accept?" He asked. "... Yes!" He yelled back. "So be it.. Yubel.. attack!" The demon unleashed a fearsome beam of energy straight at Aliusf. "Trap card: Mirrors Gate!" Nero tried to stop it. "This card will reverse the monsters positions! I will control Yubel and you will take the damage as you control my warrior!" A tunnel of mirrors attempted to switch their places, however. "Counter Trap card: Anti-Emptiness. By reducing one monsters attack to zero, I can negate any effect that affects my monsters." That explained why was not affraid of the Light Laser. And since the dragon of sorrow was already at zero power(0/0), the cost was virtually nothing. "No.." The Mirrors shattered, the attack went through. "Your determination will end here.. you lose!"

_Anti-Emptyness____, Counter Trap  
Reduce the ATK of 1 face-up attack position monster you control to 0 until the end phase.  
Negate the activations and effects of a cards controlled by your opponent that target the selected monster, and destroy them._

(To be Continued in New Testament 077: Pain of no Return)

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Woodsman  
Elemental Hero Ice Edge  
_Shadow Gardna_

-  
Light Laser

-  
Hero Blast

**New Cards used by Thryall  
**Dark Eruption

-  
Sinister Seeds  
Staunch Defender  
___Anti-Emptyness (+)_

__

(+) A modified version of the trap used by Rudger/Roman in YGO 5D's


	77. Pain of no Return

**New Testament 077: Pain of no Return**

The elevator moved around again, until it eventually stopped. "About time!" Cleo stood up, still in the level with the unconscious soldiers. "I was beginning to think we had run out of soldiers to.." However it was Madlyn who stepped out of the doors. "You!" She shivered and took a step back. "What did you do to Christine?" She asked her. Yet the flower girl ignored the question and looked at the poisoned troops. "What happened to them?" She counter-inquired. "Your boss used some sleeping gas on.. wait a second I asked you first!" The goth yelled as her eye twitched. "She is okay." Halliday said in a way that Caine found it hard to believe her. "This is not a trap.. Lydia is no longer here and the teacher is.. sleeping." She had checked the lowest level first, and found Simmons still shocked and unconscious. "If that all is true, why couldn't Rose tell me that herself?" Her words after all she could trust. "You should see for yourself. There is something strange going on.. with the world." But curiosity could also make her follow the girl. "..Show me."

Nero's LP: 900 Thryalls LP: 2900

Yubel was about to kill Sparkman, and with Mirror Gate shattered it looked like Nero would lose everything. "Alchemy Circle! I reduce Sparkman's attackpoints to zero as well!" The electric hero decharged himself (0/1400), so there were no attackpoints left to deflect. "..Yubel is still immortal.." The two powerless cards hit each other, and Sparkman was blown to pieces. "Then I will draw a card when my cycled monster is destroyed." Nero did so. "Alchemy traps.." Thryall did not sound surprised. "In a way your deck is much like how an alchemist would duel. You forge new monsters through magic fusion, you master each element and use it to do battle. I wonder if you yourself have thought of the reason why you were drawn to such a style.." He placed one trap card down and ended his turn. "Are you insinuating that I was subconsciously influenced to use these cards? By Jacob even?!" Because Jacob was still a part of Seneska, and she dedicated her entire deck to Alchemy. "Perhaps not. Another aspect is more dominant.."

"You want to save people.." He said, noticing that Nero kept looking back to Colin and William who were still mummified. "That is why you wield the heroes, because you feel an obligation to rescue those who need it." The duelist drew his card. "I have heard this story before." He placed one trap face-down and ended his turn. "Nevertheless, the source for your determination is clear. It is not wisdom to be distracted by the fates of others, your own flaws must be drawn out first. And.." He summoned an Armageddon Knight to the field (1400/1200). "Trying to keep me from hurting you more, by not giving me any new targets. That will be your downfall!" The Knight unsheathed his sword and raced towards Nero. "I am not trying to hide! I activate Reinforce Truth!" A beam of light shot down from the ceiling, stopping the warrior. "I special summon one level 2 warrior from my deck, I choose Cross Porter!" From the lightbeam came the defending cyborg(400/400). "Bring on the pain, I am not affraid!" Thryall must have taken that literal, as he held back the Knight and sent the Sorrowful Dragon to strike instead. One beam atomized the warrior, but Nero only lost 400 lifepoints. "I use Cross Porters effect and add Neo-Spacian Glow Moss to my hand."

Nero's LP: 500

"You stand on the precipice, Nero." More wrappings appeared, winding themselves around the legs of Jackson and Elias. "!!" They could not move them anymore. "One more hit, and I shall take one of them as well." He ended his turn. "That monster.." Elias would never have believed he would die this way. "Do not let him intimidate you, Nero! You can win, I know you can!" Jackson tried to remain optimistic. "I will win!" He loudly proclaimed as he drew again. "Convert Contact! I use this spell to discard Glow Moss from my hand and Dark Panther from my deck. To drew to new cards." Both drawn cards were spells. "Then I play Cocoon Party and Cocoon Rebirth!" The first spell called out the chrysalis forms of three Neo-Spacians, as three were in his grave. The second spell would revive the Spacians by sacrificing the cocoons. "I special summon Chrysalis Pantail(800/300), Pinny(100/700) and Mole(700/100) and evolve the first two into their adult forms." Pantail and Pinny evolved into the Panther(1000/500) and Glowing Moss(300/900). _"If the Panther copies the effect of Yubel.. then.."_ Thryall realized how much damage Panther could cause, so he flipped his trap. "Gestalt Trap!" The panther was suddenly chained down and weakened (0/0).

_Gestalt Trap, Continuous Trap  
__After activation, this card becomes an equip card and is equipped to an opponent's monster.  
__The equipped monster's ATK and DEF become 0, its effect(s) are negated and it can not be _

"With this trap on your monster, he can not attack or use his effects.." He had shut down plan A of Nero. "Then I will use my final spell. I activate NEX. To evolve Glow Moss." The plant creature became even more radiant as it took on a taller feminine shape(500/1100). "Neo-Spacian Twinkle Moss. When this card attacks I can use one of three effects, after I draw a card from my deck." The effect depended on what he drew. "I strike now!" For instance, and although it looked suicidal, when Twinkle launched itself at Yubel, Nero drew a trap card. "Gah." Which forced the Neo-Spacian into a defensive stance. "I set one card and end my turn." Even if he could only do 500 damage, he would have liked to hit him with that little amount. "...If that is your final spirit." Yubel the Ultimate Dragon unleashed another bolt, even 500 attackpoints would kill Nero at this point. "Nightmare Pain!" However the Twinkle Moss could use its effect even when attacked. "I draw again!" But he needed to draw a monster card, to stop the battle phase. _"Come on.."_

And he did draw a monster. "?" But not one he recognized, not at all. "Yes." The battle phase was at least ended, so Nero and the others still lived. "..." Thryall did not understand why the duelist looked so confused, he should have been more relieved to get such a fortunate draw. He switched his Knight to defense mode, placed two magic/trap cards down and ended his turn. _"This card is.. not something I put in my deck. I do not even recognize it.." _However to summon this monster, he needed the help of the Panther. "Spell card: Oversoul!" In his turn he used the resurrecting trap to revive Neos Alius(1900/1300). He then renormal summoned the gemini hero, so that he grew up into E-Hero Neos.. in name only. "I attack!" The light warrior punched Armageddons lights out, while Twinkle Moss tried to go for a spell card this time. "Draw!" She succeeded, Nero drew the spell Righteous Justice and also hit Thryall. "Now to main phase 2; I activate Righteous Justice to destroy a spell for each Hero I control!"

Thryalls LP: 2400

He wanted to free his Panther from the chains. However Thryall again had his answer ready. "Instant magic: The Haunting. Your card is negated, but you may take one other from your cemetery." Nero was momentarily stunned, however there was one other spell that could liberate the beast. "Then I retake NEX!" And he immediately used it, on the chained down Panther. "Before I saw no reason to evolve my Neo-spacian.. but now I need him: the Shadow Panther!" His monster grew more sleek, transparent and terrifying(1400/900) and escaped from the chains of the Gestalt Trap. "Instead of copying cards on the field, he copies from the cemetery. And I choose the original Yubel!" Next the panther changed shape, becoming a black mirror image of the demoness. "Wait.. that Yubel can only deflect pain when he gets attacked, and the Panther loses his stolen powers after one turn." Jackson did not see what Nero was trying to do. "I know.. Now I send 'Yubel' and Neos to my cemetery. To call out this card"

_The Haunting, Quickplay Spell  
__Negate the activation of an opponent's spell or trap card and destroy it. Your opponent adds 1 other spell or trap card from his graveyard to his hand._

_Neo-Spacian Shadow Panther, 3/1400/900 Dark/Beast  
__This card's name is also treated as "Neo-Spacian Dark Panther". This card cannot be special summoned except with "NEX". Once per turn, you can select monster in the graveyard.  
__While you control this face-up card, until the end of this turn this card's name is treated as the selected monster's name, and it gets the selected monster's effect(s)._

It was not a tribute summon, nor was it contact fusion. Still the black Yubel and gemini Neos fused together into one being. "What mockery is this!" And Thryall stared at a combination of his spirit and Nero's. "What the.." Elias and Jackson could not believe their eyes either. "Neos Wiseman(3000/3000). This monster can not be destroyed by card effects.." He did not know how this card ended up in his deck, but he took it as a sign that he should this, rather than try his luck with Dark Neos or Chaos Neos. "That card should not even exist, Yubel's essence tied to me!" The Lead Pillar was really mad now. "I do not know who made that card for you, or why it is made from my energy as well. But if I can not undo that sin, I can still grant you the ultimate agony!" What he did not say was that the damage deflection effect would work, even if the sorrowful dragon could not kill its target. "Attack!" Nero caught on at the last second however. "Cocoon Veil: I sacrifice a Chrysalis to negate all effect damage this turn!" The last cocoon was spread across the field to stop the incoming thunder.

Afterwards the Mole evolved into Grand Mole (900/300) "Tsk.." But since the number of monsters on the field had been changed, he could choose a different target. "Disappear, twinkling star!" The dragonheads unleashed rotten fire upon the Neo-spacian plant. She let Nero drew another card, but this time he pulled out a spell card. _"Hero Flash?..."_ Twinkle Moss could not attack directly during an enemy turn, so her effect was wasted and she soon was too. "But he still takes no effect damage." Jackson and Elias could still breathe for now. "That thing does not deserve existence. My spirit was granted to me by the Creator, only I should use its abilities. Only I can decide who deserves pain!" He activated the spell card: Ring of Magnetism, equipping it to Yubel "I saw what spell you drew. You intend to use it next turn..but with this card. You can not attack me directly, you must kill Yubel first." He placed one last card facedown. Which he flipped up as soon as his turn ended and Nero's turn began. "And with this card, your Grand Mole can not send anything back. Seal of Wickedness!" His next trap was a malevolent seal, placed under the Mole. "Every standby phase, I pay 500 LP to negate 1 monsters effects that turn." He had already made his choice. "Finally I activate Battle Mania, forcing that _joke_ to attack Yubel this turn!" The Wiseman and Grand Mole were put into a state of frenzy.

Thryalls LP: 1900

"This is the end of the road. No going back.. once 'Wiseman' touches that which it dared to imitate, you will lose lifepoints for each year I had to endure in hell. What are your last words, Nero?" The duelist looked right at the mummified opponent, drew his card and did not show a single expression. "I understand now." He activated Hero FLASH, removing H-heated Heart, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Justice and O-Oversoul from play. "What?" From his deck he special summoned E-Hero Neos (2500/2000). Who could normally attack directly, but Thryall had judged correctly and pre-empted this with the Magnetic Ring. "Who gave me this card. They say that the Pharaoh has the power to influence destiny itself... to will a card into existence." It happened before with the god cards. "Nonsense! Raness is gone. I never even gave him a chance to get close to my spirit, he could not have made that insult of a monster!" Nero shook his head. "I see it all now.. why Seneska can not finish the ritual, why I was not affraid. The Pharaoh is not gone, because he did not lose according to the rules."

"Now let us end this. My friends will never belong to you or your master!" He played a spell "Wrath of Neos!" Thryall gasped as the Elemental Hero moved towards Yubel - the Ultimate Nightmare. "I can send one Neos back into the deck, to destroy all cards on the field!" He swiped his hand across the hall, and released a wave of light that utterly destroyed all cards: Grand Mole, Seal of Wickedness even the dragonic demon was erased. "No.. why could I not stop.. this sacrifice." Neos returned to the deck. "Praenomen.. why.." However one monster remained, the one who could not be destroyed by effects. "Wiseman.." And the Lead Pillar was out of traps, out of options. "Give him the pain he has waited for.." The Neos demon released a nova of dark energy from the sphere on its chest, which washed over Thryall. "Gaahhh!!!"

Thryalls LP: 0

"Ghk.." Thryall was already fading away, his body melting underneath his wrappings and armor. "To think.. even in this state.. you took some of my Ka.. and merged it with yours. Not.. its must have been earlier.." Jackson and Elias were released as well. "Beaten.. by the fusionist.. Ugh." He coughed up a lot of black blood. "I regret nothing.. Nero Carter. I know my creator.. will reshape the world.. and send us all to perfection. I shall life to see it happen from whatever damnation. I have to endure now.." He smiled one last time, before his face too rotted away. "Urk.." Elias had never seen or smelled something this sickening, it was like age had caught up to the Pillar. "It is over.." Nero could finally give in to the complains of his shocked down body, and he rested on the floor. "All that remains is this.." He saw the compass in the middle of the decaying remnants. "We should.. destroy it?" Yet he saw the thing was already broken and crushed. "He.. did this himself?" Only Thryall could have done this, just before he died. "Were we.. in time at all?"

Though Nero had vanquished one Pillar, and supposedly rightfully reclaimed the Ring, it appeared that Seneska had accomplished something after all. **"This is.. the eclipse.." **She stood outside on the tip of the pyramid, staring into the sky as she slid the Millennium Eye back into her blackened eyesocket. A sky that had no clouds, no stars, no color. Only one thing was distinguishable from the black void that the heavens had become, a pale full moon. And she was not alone in viewing this total darkness. By now several pillars had awoken from the Memory World, and Hieroglyph was the first to see the new world. "It is.. beautiful..."

(To be Continued in New Testament 078: Kill the Dawn)

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**_Neo-Spacian Shadow Panther  
_Neos Wiseman

-  
Cocoon Rebirth  
Wrath of Neos

-  
Reinforce Truth

**New Cards used by Thryall  
**_The Haunting  
_Ring of Magnetism

_-  
__Gestalt Trap (+)  
_Seal of Wickedness_  
__(+) Based on the trap used by Frank in YGO 5D's_


	78. Kill the Dawn

**New Testament 078: Kill the Dawn**

"Ghaaaah!!" Colin woke up screaming. "Colin, are you alright?" He lay next to William who was also awake. "Why? Did something happen, did he take a piece of my soul?" He jumped up and saw that he was still in the underground dungeon, he wiped off his body but there were no more mummy wrappings trying to drain him. "It is okay Colin. We won." Jackson said, holding up the crushed compass as evidence of Thryalls defeat. "The shadowgame is over now, your souls are safe." He was relieved to hear that. "But .. why is the mood unhappy?" William noticed how serious Nero and Elias were looking. "The items.. she still has them.." Nero had tried to win back the Millennium Ring before Seneska could finish her ritual, he had failed. "Maybe we should go outside and see." At any rate there was nothing left for them here. And so they passed through the long system of tunnels to find their way back outside. It would have been next to impossible, had it not been for a dreadful aura that grew stronger the closer they got to the open world.

They could see why it felt that way, when they reached the desert area, exiting through a different opening than the one they used to come in. From this place they could see the sky perfectly, the black void that it had become. "A dark sky... We did not stay down below that long did we?" Closer inspection would tell the duelists that this was not just a sign of night-time; the lack of stars, clouds or anything natural only gave more cause for concern. "But what is this? Is this a part of the ascension?" Elias would not have thought a ritual for godhood would look this dark and ominous. "Maybe we did interrupt her after all. Maybe you won the Ring before she could open that Gate." William said to a Nero who would have liked some good news. "But.. what is this, if not the Alkahest? It looks like we only made things worse." It was so quiet; just like how during an eclipse all life silenced itself, the world of this hour said as much as a grave. "I have no idea what we are looking at.. and yet it feels so familiar." William shivered. Perhaps the strangest part was the fact that they were still casting shadows on the sand, even though there was no visible source of light.

"Maybe.. we should ask them.." Jackson directed everyone's attention to six figures standing in the air. Floating above the pyramid were Seneska and her creations, all too fixated on the new darkness to see the duelists beneath them. "Is this.. the first step.. creator?" Zakarias was impressed. "It is not as I had imagined.." Archon sounded more curious than amazed. Dioscure did not know what to whink, while Fatimah was merely smiling at the whole scene. "This is a work of beauty, no doubt about it." In the end Hieroglyph was the one who admired it the most, for his master was not that satisfied. **"It is not done.." **She said with a look of disappointment. **"It was not supposed to be this way.." **Some of the Pillars were momentarily stunned to hear her say this. "It is not perfect yet, is it? Did the book not say this would happen?" Now they had more questions than answers. **"No... I believe it takes more than a gathering of seven. The gate will heed my calls unless the world is cleansed, until it becomes as sinless as it was in the days of the great Alkahest. But.. I have affected mankind already.."**

She glared across the horizon with her Millennium Eye. **"I can read few minds still active. Most of life here has seen the darkness and fallen to it. Those that are awake must either have too strong a Ka, or too impure a soul." **The others could sense that too now, as if time itself had stopped. **"We have no more need for the seven, the gate has listened and it is waiting. What must be done now is to find the last flaws in the world and eliminate them. Then perfection can finally claim us." **Seneska started to move away from her servants. "Where will you go, Creator?" Archon asked with an unusually questioning tone. **"To oversee the process, it is best for me to return to the old... You will know where to find me and how to reach me. Once you have completed the purge, return to the forge.." **Suddenly the Magus disappeared, vanishing into the shadow-filled skies. But mentally she had left them one last command. _**"But spare the six priests.. for they have one last task to fulfill."**_

The remaining six items stopped circling around her, they either fell into the hands of their current owners... ll except one, the Millennium Ring. "It seems Thryall has been vanquished." Zakarias followed the item and saw instead five living children near the edge of the pyramid. "He failed." He scoffed. "They are of no consequence." Hieroglyph said rather quickly. "And she told us to spare them, so spare them we shall." Dioscure laughed. "... Why did she order us that?" Only Archon remained skeptical. "She had said to the Lead Pillar to exterminate them. And now they need to be left alive." He did not understand how or why Ka changed her mind. "Are you having doubts about our creator?" Zakarias asked. He already knew what to do. "Is it.. the Pharaoh?" Fatimah looked at the silver knight as well. "It is of no consequence as you said. Let us spread out and hunt down the impurities." He said, with not too much conviction. "It is settled then." They were about to fly into seperate directions. "Anima!" But by now the duelists attempted to make contact.

"..." Archon stopped, while the others flew away from the desert at a rapid pace. "That name.." It was Jackson who had called out loudly to him. "Dude!" Colin shouted at him, as attention from those guys was the last thing they needed right now. "It is the name of your appearance.. silver pillar. And you respond to it, so it can not just be a coincidence." Jackson yelled again, loud enough for Archon to hear him. "What is your desire here, ex-symbolist? If you seek to challenge me, you already should know I answer only to one opponent." And Raness was already out for the count. "I just want to know, why you resemble a friend of ours. And if this.. " He pointed at the blackness. "... is what you expected to happen." Archon just stood there and actually let out a chuckle. "You must be desperate to draw hope from a mere accident of fate. Because that is the only connection between me and 'Anima', and the only reality of that soul. This face is but an echo.." And with that he sped off, just like the rest of the pillars. Leaving the duelists in a better state than most had seen coming.

"It seems they do not want to exterminate us anymore." William was not sure if this was good news. "Seneska told us we were ruining her ritual. Whatever she did, we are no longer a threat to the summoning process." They glared up one last time, trying to comprehend the nature of it all. "It does feel less like the night and more like an eclipse, the desert is still warm and the moon is nowhere in sight." That brought up a different subject. "How the hell do we get out of here anyway?" They were after all in Egypt, they came here through a portal which no longer existed. "This is a pyramid-site. It stands to reason that some locals live close by it. For tourism you know.. If we can use a phone in a nearby town, we can call the army for help." In hindsight they really should have taken some radios along before they accepted Seneska's ultimatum by going through the portal. "We'd better find a place. I am all out of water." Colin tossed his big bottle away, which hit something. "Hey.. isn't that?" He saw the Ring, poking out of the sand. "Oh my.."

Back at the film studio, Madlyn had shown the two girls to the lowest levels; the control room of the satellite. "He is still not moving." Cleo kicked a motionless Marcus just to be sure he was still out, and twice more for the fun of it. "Getting shocked can not have left him this unconscious." She was starting to think he was in a coma. "I think this is what you came for." Madlyn clicked one of the buttons. "That should open up lines." It was the jamming station Simmons had installed, which had kept all communications offline during their little invasion. "Finally now we can get some help." They walked over to the main terminal, which they figured also had some method of connecting to the outside world. "Wait, is that the view from the satellite?" One screen however displayed what the cameras from the Orichalcos-'eye in the sky' could see. And right now it was not all that much. "It got fried I think.." They were not there when Lydia tried to use it against Seneska, but that system overload had actually _not_ damaged the cameras.

"What gives, I thought you said you had shut off the disruptions.." Celo said after trying to make contact for the last half hour. Even the soldiers radio's did not work. Speaking of which, the troops still were not awake. "Are they dead?" Madlyn asked casually. "Fortunately not. They still breathe.. in fact it is as if they are just sleeping now." Much like Simmons was. Could Cadron have made such a weird poison for Marcus? "In any case, we will not find help here. If the system is damaged, we should go to the nearest town and call for assistance." They could leave the delightful mister Simmons in the care of the local authorities as well. He would have a fun time explaining all his mess to the government. "Though right now I think they have bigge issues to squabble about. Like what the hell is wrong with our sky?"

They were soon roaming the ominous and dark countryside in an army jeep,. _"And they say you need a special drivers license.. ha."_ And Madlyn was there too, on the backseat. "Why do we have to take her with us anyway?" Cleo whispered to Christine while at the steering wheel. "I mean I can understand why you'd take pity on Lydia, Ceasar or even this guy.. but she does not look any less crazy to me." Cleo felt uneasy, despite the fact that for the time being the flower girl was just innocently staring around her. "Oh wait I get it. We're bringing in two for the price of one eh?" She winked at Rose. "Cleo. It is not that.. Right now we are up against a common enemy." She said as they came within sight of a city. "Common enemy.. first she will need some common sense." Yet despite her supposed odd mind, she was the first to spot all the things wrong with this place. "Sleeping?" And soon others would not fail to notice it either. "Hey, move it!" The jeep came to a screeching halt because there was a traffic jam right in front of them.

"Come on, move it!" She did not know where the horn was on this thing, so she just shouted. But after a few obscenities, she realized not everything was right here. "Hey.." Not inside nor outside the vehicles. "I said so.. sleepers.." They were surrounded, by people not quite standing up. Citizens great and small were strewn across the streets and sidewalks, in various uncomfortable sleeping poses. "What the hell is going on? First the air and now this?" This could not be unrelated. "Perhaps this is why the soldiers and Marcus were like this back at the studio. But then... is everyone like this, is it more than local?" They got out of the car and prodded the sleepers, who naturally did not even respond in the slightest. "Ugh.. what to do.." They decided to walk towards the nearest police station, hoping that at least someone was still conscious.

And all to quickly it became clear how far this phenomenon had spread. "Huh.." They reached the shopping street and saw nothing but static images on the TV-sets in the media mall. "Not a good omen." Either the black sky was cutting off all satellite and communication signals, or people just were not awake to broadcast anything. "Wait. Why do we need a phone from these people?" Cleo remembered such a thing as mobile phones; while hers was confiscated by Marcus, one of his 'students' had one of her own. "Madlyn. Let us usue your phone." She asked the girl. "Well alright.." She gave it to her rather easily. But before the goth could dial a number, they all heard noise coming from another shop. "What now?" It sounded like someone was in a hurry, trashing the place's commerce while trying to escape. "Help me!"

There he was, a man dashed out of an antique store. "Please.. in the name of god.. hel.." And before he could even reach the girls, a shadow swept passed him. "!!!" What looked like a ash-black demon flew over the man, who had been knocked unconscious. "We have to do something!" Christine wanted to rush over. "Wait." But she was held back by Madlyn. "Look.." The man started to twitch and convulse, as the demon above him waited. Soon he stood upright, except he was no longer awake. Like a sleepwalker he stood, and he opened his mouth. "Gyah.." From it came another featureless entity, a different shape from the other demon, but monster-like nonetheless. "Those.." And then the two creatures flew off, not even paying attention to the duelist trio. They wondered why, but rushed over to the man first. "Is he.." A quick check showed that he was still breathing. "It is just like with Marcus." Cleo had no idea what this all meant, she just knew one thing. "Nobody is safe from this. Whether we are hidden or in the open air.."

Meanwhile far away, a certain apprentice had finally managed to make contact. "Who is this?" A scrambled voice asked from the other end of Marcus's phone. "Not Marcus, I can tell you that." Lydia sneered. "I see.. has he too fallen victim to this event?" The voice asked back with an unimpressed tone. "Who knows? I just know that he can no longer speak with you. That is why.." A smile formed on her lips. "I am taking over this side of whatever transaction you and him had." The voice was silent for a while. "I take it then, that you wish to see me in person?" It finally asked. "You bet I do. Now of all times, I would like some.. data.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 079: Sunless Mourning)


	79. Sunless Mourning

**New Testament 079: Sunless Mourning**

They had searched the entire city, and found no other people under attack, everyone was sleeping. "No signal. Typical.." Cleo tried Madlyns hpone, which could not reach anyone or anything. "Did they even bring phones with them to Egypt?" Rose would have liked to find out how the others were doing. "Jackson might... wait that reminds me." She ran back down the street. "I think we forgot about Cable. If anyone could still be awake..it would be him." So her plan was to use the jeep to drive back to the camp. "Would it not be quicker to just steal one of the cars here?" Madlyn asked. "Hey everyone might be asleep, but we are not going to go around and take advantage of it." Christine snapped back. ".. Okay." Halliday shrugged and returned to looking up into the sky. "Are you coming then?" Cleo still knew that they had to hurry. "That plane is.. not falling." She saw a white line in the darkness above, it had to be a aeroplane. If everyone was asleep, how could they still be flying? "We can not worry about that right now, let's go!"

The same riddles were given to the duelists on the continent below, as they found a road close to the pyramid that headed to a nearby city. But on the road already were cars that did not move. And the closer they got to the actual city, the more unconscious people they came across. They too quickly realized that this had to be connected to the ritual Seneska had started. "It is more like a coma than a deep sleep. Nothing we can do will awaken them." They tried it on several people, but no method got them to rise up. There were too many to do anything about, and they were getting exhautsed just trying. This entire scene left them with one big question. "Why are we not affected?" Elias did not think it was because they were hidden under the ground as the darkness came, because people inside their own homes were also affected. It could not have been about stamina either, as he felt like sleeping himself after such a long day. "I also do not see how this is supposed to lead mankind into perfection. Unless it is supposed to be one bigdreamworld." Colin sighed. If that were the case he felt left out. "Yet if we are free to move around.. we may not be alone.."

So they headed further into the Egyptian city, the shade and palmtrees were a welcome sight in spite of the eerie mood the slumbering citizens created. "If only we could figure out what the enemy was doing, where they are headed next." Nero held the Millenium Ring in one hand. "They are too far away. But then if they left this behind, they must have no further need for all seven items." And then there was the anti-item, the Lead Compass of Thryall. "So you are saying that he used that to amplify the signal did he not, and that every one of those pillars has their own item that can magnify the range of the Millennium powers?" Jackson nodded to Carter, who was asking all sorts of questions to catch up to all the things he had missed. He had not even gotten to Doe's new personality yet. "Yes. However the compass does not work anymore." The ex-symbolist held the smashed piece. "But I do not think he feared us using it, as this compass was made with his soul.. There had to be a different reason for Thryall to destroy that which kept him alive."

"You know. This brings me back." Colin suddenly said to himself. "What do you mean?" Elias asked him. "Well I once predicted the sun would come up, but there just so happened to be a solar eclipse the very next dawn. It was on that day that I learned to reverse the way I read those confounded tarot cards." He laughed and looked up. "Ever since I tested my luck by either drawing The Moon and The Sun cards from a stack of two cards, and I always drew The Moon at noon and The Sun at midnight... Except last night." He took out a card. "Last night I drew The Sun, right before it set. I did not like that.." He knew he could not simply be right for once. "Was that why you decided to come with us?" Nero referred to what he tried to say before in the dungeon. "Partially. I had a dream before that too. One of a desert and a pyramid. In fact it was like an exact repeat of that LSD-trip we had back at Atlantis." Nero would get what he was talking about, but the other three just stared at him on confusion. "Atlantis?" Especially Elias.

"Oh hey!" Colin got distracted however, by an open restaurant down a hill. "If they are sleeping, they wont mind." He saw a chance to get something down his throat, as all that talking made him thirsty. "We should find transport as well." William did not like being sidetracked, and randomly walking around. Then again he had to admit food could rejuvenate them. Heck, he had not eaten anything since returning to this world. "Hold it." But before he and others could check out the place, he spotted something. "Sairve, look out!" He called out to the seer who was still running down the rocky slope, when he turned around. "Why? What do.." And behind him he saw what the others seemed to be warning him for. "you.. see?" He saw a black mass outlined against the ground, stretching all the way to his position. "Whoa!" He jumped back, but it stuck to him.... like a shadow. "What is this supposed to be?" And something or someone was beginning to emerge from the darkness. "What is that?" It looked like a person made of pure black oil. In fact, it looked like Colin himself.

"Wh-what?" The seer stared at his own reflection. _**"You never looked in a mirror before?"**_ 'It' asked him in return, with a voice that sounded like a deepened version of his own. "His shadow.. came to life?" William had never seen anything like that. _**"It is not as odd as you think... See now that the time of the shadows come." **_The dark Sairve glared at the sky with a strange kind of glee. "You mean to say that.. the shadows of people's souls can move freely now?" Nero remembered what Zevgar had said about the balance between light and shadow in a soul. "What? If that is true, why is it not happening to the others?!" Colin inquired, feeling insulted. _**"You can not be this ignorant. But then you never saw things like others.. Heh. How could anyone expect them to have the sins required to form a sentient shadow; the sad parentless slave of a Ka fragment, the brotherless anchor, the orphan defending chosen one.. And as for Jackson, he already accepted his shadow..." **_Doe was surprised. "You know about Jane?"

The shadow-Colin looked at him. _**"Of course. I have all of his impure memories and thoughts. Big ones and petty ones like his deeply buried disliking of you Jackson." **_Colin flinched. "I do not! We are friends!" He protested. _**"Yet you.. we never call them that. It is, like I said, 'petty' to harbor a grudge since that one duel." **_He was talking about Colins first meeting with Doe, when he was soundly beaten by his Persona deck. "What do you want?" William asked, not sure how to deal with 'this Colin'. _**"What all shadows desire.. to take over. But you and I both know they will come to your aid, despite your flaws.." **_He looked around and smiled. _**"But most of you are tired, thanks to the benevolent Seneska.. I only have one enemy.. between me and myself" **_He turned to Jackson. _**"Ex-symbolist.. face me!" **_He manifested a black copy of Colins dueldisk on his arm and slithered over to Doe's opposite side. "If it has to be that way." If this was like his duel with Jane, he was ready. "This is just wrong." Was all Colin had to add.

Jacksons LP: 8000 Shadow Colins LP: 8000

"I imagine you will think this is perfect. A chance to get even." Jackson drew five cards, letting the shadow go first. _**"So you'd think. But his emotions do not make me. I simply thrive and act on them." **_He drew six cards. _**"So do not see this as a reprise. For I will be using a 'big thought' next." **_He played the spell Light Barrier and summoned a monster. It was not one Colin was known for wielding. "A..an...Arcana?" He summoned an alien-like female angel(1300/1300). "That is Arcana Force Three: The Empress." Jackson recognized it, he had dueled this deck as well. "Ananka's cards!?" Colin did not understand. _**"This represents your hidden feelings for our main rival. Her Ka has also sustained me.." **_All Arcana Force monsters had a negative and positive effect. Normally they could not choose their effects, but with the Light Barrier in place; Shadow-Colin could pick whatever effect he liked. Each turn the Barrier itself would however have to roll a die to see if it would have its effect reversed or not, but for this turn it remained active. **_"We know why you came here Colin, not just because of a vision.. But because you dreamed about her again, didn't you?"_** Colin did not reply, but deep down he had thought about seeing her again..

_**"Your move, slayer of shadows.." **_Already Jackson could tell this was different from the other duels. This shadow had time to individualize. "Bring your Own Destiny." He discarded a Persona from his hand to draw one card plus one more for every one like it in the grave. "..." It felt odd to duel this way, now that he only had one mind to think with. Even though as far as he could remember, this was how he always played. _**"Do not keep me waiting, Jackson Doe.. if that is even your real name.." **_The shadow snarled. ".. I guess it is not. But everyone knows me that way, so let us keep it as such for now." He summoned Cybele - Persona of Lovers(1800/700) and immediately sacrificed her for the spell Research of One's Mind. _**"I can see you no longer care about those symbols either way.."**_ The shadow cackled. Jackson did not respond. "I draw cards until I get a monster.. which will be summoned." He drew until he got Melchizedek of Justice, and so he was summoned. "Attack." And the white warrior(2000/1500) killed The Empress.

Shadow Colins LP: 7300

However to his surprise, another Arcana had appeared this turn, a lunar alienoid(2800/2800). _**"Thanks, Doe. When you normal summoned the Lovers, I could special summon the Moon with the upright effect of the Empress!" **_The others knew what happened, once per turn The Empress could call another Arcana from her masters hand. And Arcana Force XVIII was chosen. "But Melchizedek is now shifted to monster-mode. Now neither player can special summon monsters of that type... the fairy-type." And all Arcana were angels in nature. Jackson ended his turn, and the Light Barrier remained upright for this turn _**"True...**__**but you can see what I will do next, right?" **_He entered his battle phase, The Moon stretched out its long suction cup hands. "Tsk." Melchizedek was crushed to death, thus allowing fairies to be summoned once again. At the same time Light Barrier restored lifepoints to the one attacking with Arcanas by an amount equal to the strength of the ones they destroyed. Thus he gained 2000 lifepoints.

Jacksons LP: 7200 Shadow Colins LP: 9300

_**"Naturally. Even a fool can see that.. And that is how most see us, Colin." **_He glared at his counterpart. He then nomal summoned his next monster. _**"So why not summon the one Arcana not even Ananka was foolish enough to use.. Force numero zero!" **_It was the Fool-Arcana, a tentacle-masked jester(0/0). _**"It has no power, can not defend, and can not be killed by its users effects if in the upright position. It has only one use.."**_ He played a spell card, Court of Justice. "It's level of one allows this spell to summon another angel from my hand." He called out the reaper Arcana, The Death(2300/2300) in upright position. _**"Death revives The Empress!" **_XIII used its scythes to cut open space and time, bringing back the third force(1300/1300). _**"Now it's purpose ends..."**_ Oddly during his endphase, The Fool walked over to Jacksons side. "The Moon was in reversed position!" They noticed too late, Shadowcolin had given The Moon her negative effect on purpose, which switched control of 1 other Arcana on the field.

The Fool was his now, and he could not get rid of it right now. ".." He reluctantly left it alone, and activated the spell card Grand Mind Fusion. "I remove Cybele and Mother Harlot in my cemetery." The latter having been the card discarded by Bring your Own Destiny. "To fuse them into Skadi, my Symbol of the Empress!" The Lovers and Empress symbols become one, a shadowy women hidden under a white owl-like cloak(3000/2000). "Destroy the reviver of the dead!" The snow goddess called upon all water in the air, and trapped Death in a large block of ice. _**"Hmph." **_Just before it shattered into a million tiny pieces. "Skadi shall keep your life in check. I set a trap card and end my turn." While he now had the upper hand, he did not like his chances that much. He knew Ananka had stronger monsters than his fusion.

Shadow Colins LP: 8600

_Skadi, Symbol of the Empress, 10/3000/2000 Water/Spellcaster/Fusion  
__Mother Harlot, Symbol of the Empress + Cybele, Symbol of the Lovers  
__This monster can only be special summoned through a fusion summon made with the above fusion material monsters.  
__Monster: When the last effect resolves, if your opponent's life points are higher than yours, your opponent loses a number of life points equal to the difference of your life points and his life points.(__This effect can only be used once per game)  
__Spell: When the last effect resolves, if your opponent's life points are higher than yours, you gain a number of life points equal to the number of cards in your graveyard x 300.  
__Trap: When the last effect resolves, if your opponent's life points are higher than yours, you lose a number of life points equal to the number of cards in your graveyard x 300._

_**"Heh." **_The Light Barrier revolved into an upright position for the second time, while the shadow summoned the ninth Arcana Force, the High Priestess(1200/1200). _**"I said I thrived on her Ka as well.. but I also strengthened it.." **_He then sacrificed all his monsters; Moon, Empress and High Priestess. "Three tributes?" And none of the duelists recalled her ever having used an Arcana that required that many offerings. _**"Special tribute summon.. Arcana Force EX!" **_The three were mingled together in a large dark flame, and immediately two dragonheads emerged. "Gah! Again with the satanic dragons.." However the rest of the body was decidedly not like Yubel, being more mechanical and alien(4000/4000). "The Dark Ruler?" Colin was certain Ananka had no Force like that in her deck. _**"This is my inspired addition to her deck. And now I shall use it to kill our 'friend'. For you see this thing has two heads for reason.." **_Both dragons charged a dark blast. "I can attack twice?" And now Jackson realized why he was given The Fool Arcana. _**"As I said, only a fool... " **_The jester was powerless, and stuck in attack mode. If both attacks hit, he would lose 8000 lifepoints. _**"Farewell, Doe. This world has no place for the sinless!"**_

**(**To be Continued in New Testament 080: A Fate worse then Death)

**New Card used by Jackson Doe  
**_Skadi, Symbol of the Empress_

**New Cards used by ShadowColin/Ananka  
**Arcana Force 0 The Fool  
Arcana Force EX The Dark Ruler

-  
The Light Barrier  
Court of Justice


	80. A Fate worse than Death

**New Testament 080: A Fate worse than Death**

Jacksons LP: 7200 Shadow Colins LP: 8600

Arcana Force Ex(4000/4000) attacked, both dragonheads fired celestial blasts at Arcana Force 0 The Fool (0/0). "Oh no..." Jackson could not switch it to defense, he had to take the attack. One already hit and knocked his life down from 7200 to 3200. "Trap card: Damage Equals Soul Energy!" But he would not let the second one finish it off. "I special summon a monster with less attackpoints than the damage I just took." He could special summon anything he wanted, nothing in his deck was stronger than four thousands. _**"So what?" **_Nevertheless the shadow only targeted The Fool, even as Jackson called out the Symbol of the Devil(2700/2400). "Abaddon, his effect weakens your monster!" The gluttonous demon ate some of the Dark Rulers power(3400/4000). "It is not enough!" Nero gasped. "And I discard Persona non grata from my hand, which switches Abaddons effect around." He switched the devil into spell-mode, which halved the Arcana's power instead (2000/4000). _**"Feh."**_ Thus the second dragon strike did not take all LP away.

Jacksons LP: 1200

_Persona non grata, 4/0/0 Dark/Spellcaster  
__This card's effect does not change the effect of a 'Persona' monster card.  
__Discard this card from your hand to the graveyard to switch the effect of one 'Persona' monster on your side of the field until the end of the turn._

_**"Oh well. I can wait. I have been waiting for this moment for years after all.." **_He ended his turn. Unfortunately Abaddon shifted back to monster-mode during the endphase, thus Arcana Force Ex gained enough strength back to become a threat again. "I set two trap cards and switch all my monsters to defense mode." Of course only the devil and Skadi, his fused Empress, could defend. "He still can kill Jack by attacking Force zero.." And for this turn he could do nothing about it. _**"My turn already? I can now see how powerless you are before true darkness.." **_The other Colin cackled as the Light Barrier still remained in an upright position. _**"Suit of Cups!" **_He played the magic of drawing, which also twisted into its positive effect. _**"Now I draw five cards.." **_Unlike the regular Sairve, his luck was phenomenal. "But that activates Skadi's spell effect, I gain 300 lifepoints for each card in my cemetery!" As he had 7, his life shot up by 2100. _**"That is not even enough to survive one more attack. But I see where this is headed."**_

Jacksons LP: 3300

_**"I summon Arcana Force V, the Hierophant!" **_The pope-like angel(1500/1500) seated on a walking throne appeared to assist EX. It pointed a staff at Jacksons trap. _**"You hope that your traps shall save you. That is why I use Hierophants effect to remove one of them from play." **_The Hierophant selected the left. "But it can only remove face-down cards, so I flip it face-up!" Jackson activated the lifesaver: a continuous trap. "Out of Sight - Out of Soul. You can only attack Symbols as long as I control them and this trap." A vibrant fog covered the presence of The Fool. "Ha! So much for you being good at seeing the future!" The original Colin laughed out loud. _**"Certain windfalls can not be prevented, me. But you and he overlooks the past if you believe you can win this way." **_He started his battle phase._** "I already showed what my Barrier of Light can do." **_The Dark Ruler fired another pair of blasts to reduce both Abaddon and Skadi to atoms. _**"I restore my lifeforce, every time spirits on your side are slain by the Arcana.." **_

Shadow Colins LP: 14300

_Out of Sight - Out of Soul, Continuous Trap  
__This card's effect does not change the effect of a 'Persona' monster card. __If you control a 'Persona' monster card your opponent can not attack non-Persona monsters._

He took 3000 and 2700 lifepoints back, based on the attackpoints of the Devil and Empress. The gap between them had widened even more. _**"You should not laugh, only I know where this world is headed." **_Next the Hierophant casted a spell to hit Arcana Force 0 with, causing Jackson to lose 1500 lifepoints. "What I am doing is merciful, compared to the hell that awaits everyone that stay behind.." He placed two trap cards down and ended his turn. "Hell awaits us? What do you know about it?" William asked the other Colin. _**"You of all people can not tell? If that is the case, I shall not ruin the surprise. You can all see it from your graves.." **_Jackson would have liked to know as well, but he could inquire after he defeated this entity. "Draw.." He played the spell Chosen Personality to discard the Judgment-symbol Lucifer from his hand to draw two new cards. "...!" One of them was just the answer to the Fools riddle. "There is still one way to remove this monster.. by sacrificing it!" He tributed it for a level 5 Symbol.

Jacksons LP: 1800

"Daisoujou!" He summoned his version of the Hierophant, the skullfaced priest (1900/2400). "He got rid of the Fool!" Yet Daisoujou was definitely not strong enough to survive EX. "There is more! The last effect that technically resolved was your spell: Suit of Cups." Because the Dark Ruler only had continuous effects and Force V never got to destroy anything. "While in spell-mode, I can add one spell from the cemetery to my hand, I choose this one.." He reclaimed and activated the fusing spell. "Grand Mind Fusion! I combine a dark Persona, Daisoujou, with Lucifer and Abaddon in my cemetery." Three demonic symbols merged into one entity. "Beelzebub, the Devil!" A symbol that literally deserved the name; Lord of the Flies(3500/3500). "It's effect is also in spell mode. Once per turn it can weaken an opponents monster." The Devil insect sent a swarm of flies to sting the dragonic Arcana Force(3000/4000). "Be gone!" He then sent out Beelzebub, letting the insect devour EX entirely. Shadowcolin wanted to flip his trap, but decided against it.

Shadow Colins LP: 13800

_Beelzebub, Symbol of the Devil, 12/3500/3500 Dark/Insect/Fusion  
__Abaddon, Symbol of the Devil + Satan, Symbol of the Judgement + one Dark Persona monster  
__This monster can only be special summoned through a fusion summon made with the above fusion material monsters.  
__Monster: Once per turn you can reduce the attack and defense of all other monsters on the field by 700.  
__Spell: Once per turn you can reduce the attack of all other monsters on the field by 1000.  
__Trap: Once per turn you can reduce the defense of all other monsters on the field by 1000.  
__If the affected monster's defense or attack is reduced to 0 through this card's effect, it is immediately destroyed._

Doe placed two cards and his turn was over. _**"This game is starting to get old, so you die..now."**_ He revealed a trap card. _**"Arcana Call: This trap switches the effect of 1 Arcana with another. I exchange Hierophants effect with that of the Death!" **_Meaning that he could now revive the last Arcana that had died. And since EX could not be revived, he had to choose... _**"Fool! Return to me!!"**_The Hierophant drew a scythe from another dimension, and cut into the ground to revive the Zeroth Force (0/0). _**"Now I can reuse the effect of Court of Justice, special summoning an Angel from my hand."**_He revealed a certain deadly Arcana. "Trap card!" It was enough to make Jackson panic and flip his own trap: Creation from One's Mind. So while he used it to revive Skadi(3000/2000) _**"Arcana Force XII The Hanged Man."**_ The shadow used brought out the twelfth Arcana(2200/2200). _**"With his negative effect I destroy your Insect, and inflict damage equal to its attack!" **_The Hangman strangled Beelzebub to death.

Jacksons LP: 1000

"He did not die?" Yet even though he should have lost 3500 LP, he could still stand and duel. "When he used Court of Justice, Skadi was there to follow with her healing effect." There were nine cards in his grave, so he gained 2700 before he lost 3500. "Furthermore since you just now activated a monster effect, Skadi will use that one too. Once per game, my enemy loses lifepoints until we both have the same amount." A chilly wind blew over the field, which even the shadow found uncomfortable. _**"You.." **_His life was drained significantly, just to make him Doe's equal._**"Making me resort to a card that 'she' made.." **_Abruptly all three monsters were sacrificed. "She?" Since none could overpower Skadi, he had to call 'it'. _**"Arcana Force EX, the Light Ruler" **_He had summoned the good counterpart to the Dark Ruler(4000/4000). "She had this card all along?" This too Colin had never seen her use. _**"Indeed. But the opportunity to use it never arose. Perhaps your bad luck rubbed off on her.. But now I will erase the streak of misfortune."**_

Shadow Colins LP: 1000

He would win if he could kill Skadi, so he attacked already. "Spell card: The Appriser!" Jackson however flipped his facedown quickplay spell. "I special summon Abaddon, who was removed from play!" The slimy devil came back from the next dimension, and his hunger threatened to cut the power of the ruler in half. _**"Reversal of Fate! I switch the effect of my monster! In its downfaced position it will weaken itself to kill those that target it!" **_The Light Ruler was surrounded by a pale aura, it decreased its own points (3000/4000) to counter the effect. Abaddon was quickly killed all over again. "..." Yet now he had to choose whether or not to continue attacking. "Skadi and his monster are equals too.." The powerloss would persist, and if he did not kill Skadi, she would do it herself. _**"Gah.. Attack!" **_The snow empress and the celestial dragon angel killed each other as a bright explosion shook the field. _**"Good riddance I say.." **_He placed one more card facedown and ended his turn. "You do not like the light, do you?"

Jackson drew another card. "I see it now. You can not create, you can only corrupt. You have no soul and Ka of your own.." He summoned, as if to emphasize his point, the Soulless Symbol of Wands(1500/1300). _**"What of it? You can not harm me.." **_His facedown trap was Waboku, which he would use to stop any damage this turn. "Can I not? Am I not the vanquisher of shadows?" He repeated his 'joke, and entered the battle phase. _**"No you can not! None of you can, the shadows will be unstoppable! You will all die.." **_He was about to reveal his trap. _**"What?" **_Yet as he did, his hand froze. Something was holding him back. "!" At first they could not see it, but there was someone else standing in Colins shadow now. This entity was made of light instead. "It attacks!" Jackson could not cancel his attack anymore, the shadow also saw that the trap was already gone. _**"!!!" **_He was hit by the soulless spirit's magic, he lost all life yet he did not seem to care. _**"You?" **_The two Colin could only focus on her now. It was Ananka..

Shadow Colins LP: 0

"I gave this trap to a friend." She said with the voice that Sairve still remembered like it was yesterday. "Who is.." Elias did not know who she was, but if he did, he would just be more confused. _**"I see, the barrier between worlds is weakening enough for the dead to speak. Perhaps I tempted fate by using your Ka instead of his.."**_Only now did he start to feel the effects of his defeat, he sank back into his masters shadow. _**"But I guess your dream came true then after all, heheh. You did get to see her." **_He laughed one last time. _**"Not that it matters now, this also means.. the nightmare will follow!"**_

"Is it really you?" Nero asked the apparition. "In a way. Part of me is here, part of me is in a place that I can not begin to explain to you.." She looked at everyone there and smiled. "How did you.. when did you.." Colin could not believe his eyes. He was already forgetting about his own shadow coming to life and trying to kill him. "I called out to you before.. Colin. But at the time more important visions came to light." Suddenly Colin and Nero remembered what she had to be talking about. "The nightmare we had, after Atlantis.." They had seen a world devastated and lifeless, was this what the Shadow Colin meant? "Do you know something we do not?" Jackson inquired and she nodded. "Something big is happening, an event that disrupts the balance of all souls. I could find you again.. because a part of mine stuck with Colin. Because you used my cards once.. and so did someone else.." He had used the Arcana in the duel against Simone Creed. "Then what is going on?" They asked again. "The easiest way to say it, is this.." She pointed up.

"That in the sky.. is hell on earth."

Back in England Cleo and company had driven the jeep back to the army camp. Only to find the worst possible news. "Here too." The soldiers were all reduced to slumbering victims, and seemingly so was Cable. "Nobody is protected" They stood in his tent, he lay resting in his bed.. breathing. "Hey now wait a tick.." Cleo pinched Fraser in the arm. "Gah!" And he woke up with a jolt of pain. "What was that for?" He yelled, rubbing his arm. "Oh he was just sleeping.." Madlyn grinned. "Just? I had not slept well for days.. you can not blame me for being exhausted!" The girls figured from this, that he had no idea what was going on. "Did something happen then?" He saw it in their faces however. "You better come see for yourself.. And then we will tell you what you missed." So they took him to gander at the black void above,

After telling him tales of demons and sleepers. "This is unreal." And as much as he was wishing this were a bad dream, it was all really happening. "Then everything was for nothing, we failed.." He felt miserable, if only he had not lost the Millennium Key. "It is not all bad. We are still awake." Christine tried to cheer him up. "Why exactly?" Cleo wondered still. "Maybe it is because we saw the Pharaoh in the Memory world?" But they quickly rejected that idea, because Cable had never gone there. "Then it should be, that owners of the Millennium items can resist whatever the Magus has done." He theorized. Though now he noticed Madlyn. "Wait.." And she had never owned such an item, as far as he knew. "Not everyone fell asleep immediately anyway. Some people stayed awake, only to have demons jump out of their bodies." Rose still shuddered at that thought. "Must be those Ka's that the priestdude was talking about. Which means people with strong spirit can fight it. I guess that could explain Halliday, though I.."

"Yeow!" In the middle of her sentence, Cleo felt a burning pain on her wrist. "What the heck?" The dueldisk was as hot as a frying pan, she quickly tossed it off. "Did something hurt you?" They all stared at the device, as it started to light up. "It's gonna explode?" Caine would not be surprised if something that odd happened for no reason. "No...it is.." Instead the light grew, taking on a humanoid shape. "What.. who?" And soon they too saw her, standing there as if she were alive and well. "Ananka?" The seeress smiled and picked up the disk from her floor, taking out one card. The Waboku trap card. "Thanks Caine.. for keeping me close to you as well."

(To be Continued in New Testament 081: Walking over my Grave)

**New Cards used by Jackson Doe  
**_Persona non grata  
__Beelzebub, Symbol of the Devil_

_-  
__The Appriser_

_-  
__Out of Sight - Out of Soul_

**New Cards used by Ananka/ShadowColin  
**Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler

-  
Arcana Call


	81. Walking over my Grave

**New Testament 081: Walk over my Grave**

"So.. your old friend Ananka died. Because of a heart attack.. induced by a dark spirit that possessed Cleo and dueled her in shadowgame.. And fnow she is back because her spirit has been following Colin all along? Because he had kept her deck next to him for all this time? " Elias wanted to make sure he got all that backstory. "Yeah that seems to be the case. And I had no idea." Though Sairve had seen her in visions once or twice, like when Critias came to him. "But I am still confused about the whole issue with my goddamn shadow coming to life. What happens now?" It had been defeated, yet it merely went back into his soul. "Is it a part of me still, will it come out again to kill us all?" He was also still peeved that it only happened to him. "Maybe you have to accept it, instead of rejecting it." Nero told him. "That only works in games." He scoffed at that suggestion. "She said that this darkness brings out the worst in souls, it is not your fault. The barrier between life and death is weakening, shadows grow strong, Ka escape their vessels. Seneska has allowed hell to enter " William again looked at the dark void. "I should have recognized it. I was inside that world.." Just then a flash passed by them, and the spirit of Ananka had returned.

"Did it work?" She had left to test something, and now they wondered if she had been successful. "Yes, it did. Cleo had kept the part of my spirit as well. They were surprised, but I explained myself to them as well." She then gave them a quick rundown of what she had heard from them, what Marcus tried to do, how everyone on their side was asleep as well. "Damn it. The whole world is affected. Yet we remain.." Jackson wished he knew why they were immune, they could then help all the others. "I know that the Millennium items are involved. However those with strong souls can resist the dark pull for a while as well." Ananka gave them an example by telling them about the man who had a demon slip out of his body. "So the sleepers lose their inner demons if they have them. And people with dark secrets also have to face their own shadows." And there was no telling what could happen once all of humanity fell prey to a deep slumber. "We have to meet them, but we are stuck all the way here in Egypt." Colin cursed the lack of portal magic. "That is good. We need to stay here in Egypt." Ananka said suddenly. "What, why?" Elias asked the ghost. "I can sense it better than you.. I can feel that whoever caused this. Is still close by.."

Meanwhile not that close by at all..

"So this is the place huh.." Lydia could tell her current location was not where Marcus's mysterious benefactor would live in. A small university just at the edge of civilization. "An in-between meeting place.." They did not trust her enough yet, obviously. If they were awake at all.. "No rush." She sarcastically said to herself, as she looked at all the unconscious people around her. Scientists, teachers and students; they were all here. At the very least it would be easy to find someone important in a place like this. And she soon heard the sounds of a moving presence. "Ah.." She followed the noise, which lead her into a large lecture hall. There at the opposite end of the room, someone stood on the stage. "A contact I presume?" He looked like a lackey in any sense of the word; formal yet boring attire, long yet stiff hair. Only his face stood out, because he had two large scars across it. "And you are Lydia.." He spoke with a gravely voice. "You seem to be doing well despite the 'eclipse'." He smiled oddly. "Can say the same thing about you.."

"But let us get to business. There is not enough time to wonder why everyone else is a victim.." She walked down the row of seats to meet the man up close. "I agree. Before we go on, I will give you my name. Call me Rivet.." He made a polite bow, but did not drop his creepy grin. "My master sent me to start your new partnership.." He twirled his fingers and produced a small USB stick. "On this you will find all you need to know; contacts, alibis, yadda yadda. Basically this data will let you become the best replacement for your 'teacher'." He pulled it back when he noticed he had caught her attention. "Let me guess. I need to prove myself, before I can have it." Like an evaluation of sorts. "Good guess, it will be like before when I tested Simmons" He then pulled a dueldisk from underneath the stage. "A duel.. how expected." But she would not have it any other way. "If it is because the world is going to hell. You need not worry.. Our side is properly 'insured'. " The two activated their dueldisks and inserted their decks.

"To become a.. representative of Outerdeck, you need skill. That is what my master believes. Marcus crushed me rather quickly, and now you can try." He drew just five cards. "And my master also says.. ladies first." From that Lydia either figured the master was a lady herself, or just very stuck-up. "Heh, if that is what 'she' says." She stuck with theory number one and drew six cards. "I set one monster and one trap card. Your move." The scarred one nodded. "I shall try to make this quick. And by the way, I can see you want to ask about my face. I say you can inquire all you want...after this is done..." He summoned a monster, a demonic many-toothed imp(1500/1200). "Corpse Snatcher is its name. And now it attacks.." The demon burrowed under the ground with its claws. "?" Then one erupted from the floor in front of her and dragged the set monster down under. "Ah yes, you use the Black Wing set." He saw what he had killed now, a lowlevel black bird; Vayu the Emblem of Honor(800/0). "Very popular, very dangerous. But.."

_Corpsesnatcher, 4/1500/1200 Dark/Fiend  
__Once per turn, during your main phase, you may move a monster card from your opponent's graveyard to your graveyard._

And then the strangest thing happened, the Snatcher tunneled back to his side, never letting go of Vayu. "Hey.." He had moved the Blackwing away from her cemetery, into his. "You do not recognize my card do you? I know about yours tho. The Emblem of Honor can be removed from a players graveyard to perform a Synchro summon of the dead." Yet with Vayu in the wrong cemetery, she could not use that effect anymore. "Tsk Tsk. Bet you do not know this spell either." He activated a field spell, the Colosseum of Flesh, which turned the hall into a throbbing fleshy mess. "How could I? It is not anywhere in the database.." She realized his deck had to be self-made. "Marcus approved it, therefore it is accepted by the dueldisk." He placed two trap cards down. "Whatever, time to see how well it does.. I activate Black Whirlwind."

_Colosseum of Flesh, Field Spell  
__You must send two cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard to declare an attack._

_Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite, 4/1600/1000 Dark/Winged Beast  
__You can return 1 card you control to the hand and take 800 damage to special summon this card from your graveyard.  
Destroy this card when a card is set on the field._

A black twister was summoned to her field. "When I normal summon a Blackwing. A weaker one is added to my hand." Which she showed by summoning Zephyros the Elite(1600/1000) and adding the tuner, Gale the Hurricane(1300/400), to her hand. "And now you can special summon that one eh?" Rivet knew that effect as well, when one Blackwing existed, Gale could come out from a players hand as well "Yes, and he halves your monsters attack and defense." The hurricane bird weakened the Snatching demon (750/600). "Double strike!" The winged beasts flew around Rivets monster. "'fraid not." But he flipped both traps at once. "Needlebug Nest and Defiled Grave Barrier! Trap one will send five cards from my deck to the cemetery. Trap two will remove two of those five cards to keep my monster alive." A wall of coffins blocked both Blackwings. "But you yourself are not protected.." The battle damage flowed over the coffins and hit Rivet, he lost 550 and 850 lifepoints. "Very good. You can dish it out. Let's see if you can endure it as well."

Rivets LP: 6600

_Defiled Grave Barrier, Normal Trap  
__Remove two cards from your graveyard from play. Monsters you control can't be destroyed this turn._

"One of the cards I discarded was this one: Chainsaw Man. He can be resurrected with a small offering from the living.." He tributed the Corpse thief to bring out a madman with an automatic chainsaw(2300/1700). "Next I normal summon.. a different kind of criminal: The Unstable Arsonist." His third monster was a gleefully insane fire caster(500/400). "This one can attack directly if I have other dark-type monsters on my field." He showcased this effect as soon as he could, lobbing a fireball at the blackhaired duelist. "Feh.." To her surprise, the dueldisk forced her to discard two cards from her deck. "And when he does do damage, you and me will have to throw two cards away." Rivet severed four cards, two for Arsonist and two for his Colosseum. "Now for the Chainsaw.." The maniacal killer tore through Gale with his murder weapon. "Barely squeezed back in the lead. Heheh." He discarded two more cards to pay for the Colosseum, and placed two more traps down. "That field seems more painful for you than me." Lydia noted.

Lydia's LP: 6500

_Chainsaw Man, 6/2300/1700 Dark/Warrior  
__This card can not be summoned from your hand or deck.  
You may tribute a monster on your side of the field to special summon this card from the graveyard._

_Unstable Arsonist, 2/500/400 DARK/Spellcaster  
__This monster cannot be attacked if you control another DARK monster. This monster may attack the opponent's life points directly.  
__When this card deals battle damage to your opponent's life points, put the top two cards of both players deck to their respective graveyards._

Whatever his plan was, it was not deck destruction. "Whatever.." She drew again. "When I control one Blackwing, I can summon this one without tributes." She called the raven-like Blackwing Elphin(2200/1200) to her field a level 6 monster that now needed no sacrifices. "When normal summoned, he switches one monster's battle position." The Raven forced Chainsaw Man into defense mode. At the same time Black Whirlwind shot out a Blackwing with less than 2200 attack. "I add Breeze the Gentle Wind to my hand. And when it comes from the deck like this, I can special summon it." From the black winds came the orange-feathered tuner(1100/300). "Level 3 Breeze, and level 4 Zephyros! I tune them into the Armor Master!" She performed a synchro summon and brought out the level 7 Blackwing(2500/2000). "Finally I play the spell card: Blackwinged Strafe. I discard a Blackwing from my hand, to destroy a defending monster." She discarded Mistral Silver Shield, allowing its spiritual energy to blast down the Chainsaw warrior.

"Nice.." Rivet faced two strong monsters now, and she did not hesitate to use them. "I attack the Arsonist with The Armor Master!" She figured if he would use another trap like the Grave Barrier, at least she could weaken the fire maniac with wedge counters. "Reverse trap opens: Lunatic Eyes!" However Rivet countered with his maddening card. "Lunatic Eyes destroys two monsters in the middle of battle. And then..." Armor Master and his target killed each other in a frantic display of insanity. "We both lose cards equal to the level of the strongest monster." Both players had to toss out seven cards. "You are one weird duelists, do you know that?" Still, she could continue attacking with Elphin. The black bird slashed Rivet with its talons. "You must be a lot like Marcus. He said the exact same thing.. heheh."

Rivets LP: 4400

_Lunatic Eyes, Normal Trap  
__Activate only when a face-up monster you control is selected as an attack target. Destroy the attacking monster and the attack target monster  
__Then put cards from the top of both players decks to the graveyard equal to the level of the monster with the highest ATK._

"What did you say?" Lydia's eye twitched. "Take it easy, I meant no offense. I can tell you 'dislike' the guy." It was his turn again. "Let's Forget the Past. Eheheh." What he said was not just symbolic, it was the name of his next spell. "I remove three cards in my graveyard from play, to draw two new ones." He received a spell and a monster. "Let's try this. I activate Reasoning. You call out a level, and I draw until I get a monster.." He started drawing. "I know what _that_ card does. And I call four." It was the most common level after all. "Swing and a Miss." However after three draws, he got a level three monster. "I special summon another Unstable Arsonist. But I will not keep it at that. It is time to go to the next stage." He suddenly sacrificed the fiery darkling. "By removing five cards in my cemetery, and one dark monster, this is tribute summoned: Dread-Eyes Nightmare Dragon!" Darkness spread, sprouting skeletal wings, two spiked tails and an eyeless head. The dragons eye was instead located on its chest. "Dread-Eyes.." It(3300/0) was far stronger than any of her cards. "This world is like a nightmare now, so this card suits the scene well. Show me what your answer is to pure terror!"

_Forget the Past, Normal Spell_  
_Remove 3 cards in your graveyard from play. Draw 2 cards_

_Dread-Eyes Nightmare Dragon, 8/3300/0 Dark/Dragon_  
_This card can not be special summoned except by its own effect. This card can be tribute summoned by tributing 1 dark monster and removing five cards in your graveyard from play. When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard you can remove 2 cards from your graveyard to special summon it to your field during the next endphase._

The dragon released a beam of shadows. "It will be my pleasure! I activate Fake Feather." She flipped her set trap card. "I can discard one of my Blackwings, to copy a trap you used. And I know which one I liked the most." She discarded a card and took out his Lunatic Eyes. "Oho.." The trap did its work, destroying both Nightmare Dragon and Elphin. And now both players were forced to discard 8 cards from their deck. "Ha! You ran out already!" She had kept the count, he had drawn ten cards and discarded thirty. Rivets deck was gone, no duelists could continue without it. "And now that I won. I do not mind telling you what I will use all that data for.. I wanted to meet your master, but if that has what I think it does then.." However she stopped in the middle of her rant. "What?" Rivet revealed his final trap, which would make it not so final. "The Nightmare Continues, miss Blackstone. With this trap, I have a new deck to draw from... My removed from game pile." She could not believe her eyes. "Now.. what did you want to say about us? No wait, I can tell.. You do not want this partnership at all, do you? Nor do you care about the state of the world.. You just want to take us down along with Simmons." He smirked nastily. "Am I right, or am I right?"

_The Nightmare Continues, Continuous Trap  
__Only activate this card when your deck is empty. Your removed from play pile becomes your deck as long as this card is face-up on the field._

At the same time, a woman was fleeing for her very existence. "No. Leave me alone, I do not know what you are talking about!" But she eventually tired out and stopped in the middle of a town square filled with sleepers. "Why.. are you doing this?" Her pursuer was right behind her, not even out of breath. "You ask so many questions, you are unknowing." It was Zakarias, the Iron Pillar. Holding the keys of gold and iron in his hand. "So few of you resist without understanding.. and all of you are insignificant. You should be happy that the Creator wants to reshape you at all." He pointed them at the frightened womans forehead. "No!" She was engulfed by a colorless radiance. "Soon you will know all there is to know.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 082: The Early Vulture)

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor  
Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite(+)_  
_Blackwing - Elphin the Raven

-  
Blackwinged Strafe

-  
Fake Feather

_(+) Based on the monster used by Crow in YGO 5D's episode 95, before the TCG made it real_

**Cards used by Rivet Calaway  
**_Corpse Snatcher  
__Chainsaw Man  
__Unstable Arsonist  
Dreadeyes - __Nightmare Dragon_

_-  
__Colosseum of Flesh  
__Forget the Past  
_Reasoning

-  
Needlebug Nest  
_Defiled Grave Barrier  
__Lunatic Eyes  
__The Nightmare Continues_


	82. The Early Vulture

**New Testament 082: The Early Vulture**

Rivets LP: 4400 Lydia's LP: 6500

She thought she had won, yet the opponent could continue playing even without cards in his deck. "I do not know what you are talking about.." But worst of all, the man accused her of trying to misuse the information he offered. "I may not be a very wise man. Not like these people here. But.. I can tell when someone is being dishonest. And you almost let something slip just now." At that time the black fog of his dying monster stopped dissolving. "By the by. Dread Eyes can revive itself during an endphase in which it is killed. If I remove a few cards from play." He added two new cards to the pile that had become his new deck and the Nightmare(3300/0) returned. "Maybe I did, maybe I did not. You can not prove anything. And when I win, I will take that data regardless." It was her turn again. "When? You mean.. if." Rivet smirked.

Lydia's eye twitched. "I know what I said." She started her turn. "I normal summon Shura the Blue Flame to the field." The arrival of the blue bird(1800/1200) let her spell Black Whirlwind give her a weaker Blackwing from her deck. She took out Kalut. "I see, that card can add 1400 attackpoints to one Blackwing on the field. But.. 1800 + 1400 is still less than 3300." He pointed out the basic math. "Indeed, but 2500 + 1400.." She removed two monsters from her grave. "Vayu?" It was the level 1 tuner and the level 6 Raven Elphin. "Yes a second one.. I discarded it when Lunatic Eyes went off. I perform a grave-based synchro summon!" She tuned the two Blackwings together to call out Armor Master once more. "His effect is negated, but with a boost from Kalut, he can destroy your dragon. And then... my three winged beasts will finish you!" She had two, the third soon followed. "I return Black Whirlwind to my hand, and pay 800 LP to revive Zephyros." The bird of resurrection(1600/1200) came from the grave with its own effect. "Now I attack!"

Lydia's LP: 5700

Armor Master flew towards the dragon "You are not the only one that has effects buried in the grave.. I remove Necro Gardna.." Yet he removed the undead warrior to negate her attack. "Gah.." Because her Synchro was the only one whose powered up attack could overcome Dread Eyes, she could not continue her battle phase. "Maybe now you see it my way. My turn. I draw.." He looked over his graveyard. "I activate the effect of Skill Succesor in my cemetery." He removed a trap, which attached itself to the Dragon(4100/0). "It will empower my Nightmare monster by 800 points. Now your Kalut's boost can not even save one Blackwing." Then suddenly a coffin emerged from the floor, revealing a goatlike skeleton within (2000/0). "Furthermore, when this card is on top of my graveyard, I can special summon it." The zombie took out a large scythe. "Feel free to use your Kalut anyway." He sent both undead to take down Shura and the Armor Master. "I'd rather not use it on your turn, so no thanks.." And she allowed them both to die.

Lydia's LP: 3900

_Arex of the Shallow Grave, 4/2000/0 Dark/Zombie  
__This card can not be normal summoned or set. Once during the game, if this is the top card in your graveyard, you may special summon it._

She wanted to hold on to Kalut until the very last desperate moment. "Very well. Take all the time you need..". Then he placed one trap down. "Tsk, do not condescend to me.." She drew, reset Black Whirlwind and summoned a white-feathered bird(1200/900). "Level 2 tuner: Blizzard the Far North. Its effect will revive on lv4 or lower Blackwing in my cemetery." First she took one more Blackwing from the Black Whirlwind, then she summoned a humanoid winged warrior(900/1400) from the graveyard. "Level 2 Blackwing, Gust the Backblast." Now she had 8 levels on her field. "Synchro summon!" Blizzard, Gust and Zephyros combined into a level 8 bird warrior(2800/2000), with long silver wings. "Silverwind the Ascendant." Now she had a monster strong enough to kill the Nightmare, but she had bigger plans. "When this card is Synchro summoned it can skip an attack and destroy two monsters on the field, whose defense is lower than his attack!" The synchro pulled out a sword. "Both your monsters are weaker!" He made one slashing move and cut down Arex and Dread Eyes at once. "Then I special summon Zephyros a second time by returning Black Whirlwind to my hand!" She lost another 800 LP and the bird came back to life. "Direct strike!"

Rivets LP: 2800 Lydia's LP: 3100

"You are really quite determined to win this. Aren't you?" He shrugged of the hit, and removed two cards to bring Nightmare Dragon(3300/0) back. "But think for a second. How much could we accomplish if we worked together instead?" He drew a card. "I do not care. People like you should not think money can make all memories go away!" She hated Marcus for it, and she hated the people that helped him get away with his crimes. "But to me, that seems rather childish. But at least you are no longer denying it.." He sent Nightmare Dragon after Zephyros. "Call it petty if you want, you will not stop me from getting even." The attack hit dead on, however the Elite Blackwing survived the unholy blast. "Hm?" It appeared Silverwinds wings had absorbed most of the malicious energy. "Once Silverwind will stop a fellow Blackwing from dying." Though Lydia still suffered it. "Besides, even with your trick of swapping the deck with the removed from game pile. You will run out soon." He had few cards left. "And then you will win after all? If only.." He however played a spell card. "Dimension Twist. The cards of the dead switch places with those in a whole other world.." All cards he removed were back in his grave and vice versa. "Do not underestimate this deck of mine."

Lydia's LP: 1400

_Dimension Twist, Normal Spell  
__Switch your graveyard and your removed from play pile._

"Your deck was made by your master, mine was made by Marcus. If you want to tell me I am hypocritical for still using it..." She drew a spell and activated it. "You can shove it. I will use whatever means I have. I activate 'Cards for Black Feathers'! I remove one Blackwing in my hand from play to draw two new cards.." And she strangely decided to remove Kalut from play, rather than the bird she had drawn with Black Whirlwind last turn. "I draw.. and I sacrifice!" She tributed Zephyros for a level 5 monster. "I call out Sirocco the Dawn." Out came the darkblue warior of the wind(2000/900). Unfortunately she could not special summon during a turn in which her spell was used. Zephyros and Blackwing - Bora the Spear, which she just added to her hand, could not come out. "His effect activates, I combine his attackpoints with Silverwind!" The two winged beasts formed one front(4800/2000). "You are mistaken Lydia." He took the blow. "My master may have ensured their legitimacy, but I designed them.." His dragon came back nonetheless.

Rivets LP: 1300

"Well good for you.." She scoffed as she placed her other drawn card facedown. "I will admit that your deck is unpredictable, but I made sure my cards were of the highest tier." Rivet drew again. "You do care a little about power after all.. eh?" He sent out his dragon. Silverwind could use his effects only once per duel, so neither could defend themselves this turn. "Of course! Once I turn you people in, I will have all the rewards a girl could need." She flipped her trap, Blackwing fBombardement. "Now watch my power.. I sacrifice one Blackwing, to empower a Synchro on my field!" In an ironic twist, Sirocco the empowerer was now killed just so the Ascendant(4800/2000) could gain its strength permanently rather than for just one turn. "But power comes and goes. Let me show you.. I activate my trap card: Opening the Gates of Hell." Suddenly the dragon was blown to pieces. "Huh?" And from his corpse came a gate that lead to a bloodred world. "By murdering my cards, this trap special summons the Murderbot." A maniacal looking machine(1300/1000) descended down from the infernal portal. "This card kills one monster no matter how much power they have." The machine used its mechanical jaws to crush the Synchro Blackwing. "Catch my drift?"

_Opening the Gates of Hell, Normal Trap  
__Destroy all monsters on your side of the field and special summon a monster from your graveyard whose level is less than or equal to the number of monsters in your graveyard._

_Murderbot 4/1300/1000 Dark/Machine  
__When this card battles a monster, you may remove two cards from your graveyard from play to destroy the opposing monster without damage calculation._

"..." Lydia drew one card. "Maybe you do have a point. But.." She summoned both Blackwings in her hand; a ninja-bird called Fane the Steel Chain(500/800) who was normal summoned and Bora the Spear(1700/800) who was special summoned. "As I said, when I win.. I do not have to take any more crap from you. And I know what you are hoping for.. you hope I will not notice that you unremoved Necro Gardna when you activated Dimension Twist." So she discarded the D.D. Crow from her hand. "I remove it from play before you can!" And now she could make her killing combo. "Fane can attack directly.. and when he inflicts damage." The ninja shot out a few throwing stars which hit Rivet in the shoulder. "Gah." He felt the hit this time, as if they were real. "A monster of yours is switched to defense mode." Dread Eyes, who revived itself a fourth time, was forced to defend with its low defense. And Bora had a could pierce defense. "Take it.. the final impalement!" Bora thrusted his spear through the Nightmare and his owner.

Rivets LP: 0

"Urgh.. You.. used that dueldisk type eh.." He felt both attacks on his body, like his shoulder really had been pierced. She had been using the army class disk all along. "What did you think? That pain is just the beginning." She was quick to snatch the USB stick from his hand. "And thanks for the information." She smiled as Rivet seemed to be in too much agony to stop her. "I think you.. should reconsider.." he grunted. "Thanks but no thanks. Whatever is going on with the world, I do not need your help to fix it." She turned to leave, but that very second the lights turned off. "What?" All she could see now was the screen at the end of the hall, somebody had turned it on. A strange logo was projected onto it, and a voice sounded over an intercom. "I am disappointed Lydia Blackstone. I thought you were headed for something great." Rivet looked up with a smirk, which she noticed. "You must be the master.." She hissed at whoever was talking. "There is still time to change your mind. Otherwise we might have to cut.. ties.."

Suddenly the lights turned on, and she realized someone else was in the room. "Do not.. move." A young shorthaired girl, holding up a gun. "Where.." Lydia could have sworn she was one of the people she saw lying around in here, yet now she was awake? "Hiding among the masses huh.. Your master knew all along what I would say to your offers." She rasped, she fell right into their trap. "Well, you are acting a little egotistical right now." Rivet responded in the background, seemed he no longer felt the agony. "The world is in danger, and you can only think about your own needs. Even you have to concede that we are not the biggest threat right now." He approached her and patted her shoulder. "What are you.." Then the voice spoke again. "Our goal is protect the world, which right now will not be able to listen to you. Lydia Blackstone, you passed one test and you can still pass the other. All you will have to do is.." On response the girl aimed the gun at her forehead. "We have no desire to terminate a potential ally. So say you want.. to join us.." Lydia looked at Rivet, the girl, the screen. "I do not have much of a choice, do I?" She let the stick drop to the floor. "If your master insists.. I might be able to overlook this organization. But It better be worth the time.."

...

Elsewhere the jeep with Cleo and company in it was riding towards proper aerial transport, for they were supposed to make their way to Egypt. "How are we supposed to get there?" Cleo asked. She knew Cable could pilot a helicopter, but even if they could find one it would take days to get to that country. "I do not know. But right now they need all the help they can get. The Magus, or Seneska as she is apparently called, is hiding somewhere in her homeland. We must find her and stop this madness." They had no chance of saving people they could not possibly reach, and there was no way to oversee who was and was not sleeping already. "If we have enough time." Christine did not know how long the dark world above would wait, how long it took for the hell to be freed. "If we can just make it to the main land of Europe with a helicopter, we will continue from there." They would need to cover a few more miles before they could reach an airport. "Okay a different question then.. why has only Colin had his shadow come out so far?"

Everybody fell silent, and made a passing glare at the girl in their backseat. "Anything wrong?" Madlyn asked innocently. "I again question the need for her to be here. And why she is awake at all for that matter.." Cleo was worried a murderous shadow or plantlike demon would leap out of her body at any moment. "It seems, from what Ananka told us, that Colins shadow came out because it disagreed with him. It he had been feeding off two spirits rather than one, so it was strong enough to surface first. I suppose the longer we stay here, the more at risk we.." Before Cable could finish, a strange feeling overcame all of them. "Whoa!" Cleo suddenly stepped on the brakes and pulled at the wheel, somehow managing to stop the vehicle in between a row of already motionless cars. "It is that guy!" She pointed at the cause of her reaction.

Zakarias, the Iron Pillar, flew over the countryside. He seemingly did not notice them, as he was not heading towards them or flying to the same place as they were. "What is he doing here?" They did not expect this, he got here very rapidly. "This could be worth investigating, right?" Madlyn said as if following that man was the smartest thing in the world. "Are you mad? ... Do not answer that." Needless to say Cleo was less than thrilled. "But there has to be a reason why he is here." Someone like Zakarias, who could burn body and soul, was not someone they had to let run around freely. "We have to do something.. If we know why he is here.. we make the first step towards understanding this chaos.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 083: Super-Ego)

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Gust the Backblast  
Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant  
Blackwing - Fane the Steel Chain

-  
Cards for Black Feathers

-  
Blackwing Bombardementf

**New Cards used by Rivet Calaway  
**Necro Gardna  
_Arex of the Shallow Grave  
__MurderBot_

_-  
Dimension Twist_

-  
Skill Succesor  
_Opening the Gates of Hell_


	83. SuperEgo

**New Testament 083: Super-Ego**

A man walked across the silent airport of a british city. He was one the few who managed to keep his eyes open during the coming of darkness. _"This can not be happening, not now.."_ He had come here to avoid his problems, to escape this country. However with everyone here asleep, he could not arrange a way to get overseas. The planes on the ground were not taking off, the ones in the sky did not bother to land. It was as if time itself had stopped. Not that he had a return to his home country on his mind right now. _"This is exactly.. exactly what I saw." _Before he was just worried the authorities would come after him for his failure, but now he realized he should only have feared the visions. _"This is all my fault."_ He was the great Prospero, wordls best fortune teller. Because he failed to defeat Archon, the world went to hell. That was what the Tauk had told him. Nobody could talk to him, nobody would even bother to chase him. _"And there is nowhere left to run."_ Well almost nobody would think about chasing him. "What?" Suddenly the glass windows of the terminal he was in shattered over the floor. "I found you.. ex-owner of the fifth item." Zakarias smirked.

"Who.. who are you?" He had not met this one before, only the Silver Pillar. "You still do not know? How awful it must be to lose your greatest source of information." The Iron Pillar stepped on the floor, ignoring the glass shards. "I am a creation of the great Magus; Zakarias." Prospero could have guessed that, from his attire. "What do you want from me? I gave you everything I have.." He had lost his Millennium Item, his special ability. "Yes, and I see you tried to run and hide after my partner crushed you. However he could not take away what is allowing you to interfere with the grand design." He pointed at his chest, closing up to him in the blink of an eye. "Your spirit is strong, only I can burn it down." Prospero flinched and backed away until he could go no further than the walls behind him. "Heh. You must have seen what will happen to this world, when you failed. But this darkness will only last as long as humanity's Ka can not roam free. So.." He manifested a large scythe in his hand. "For the sake of perfection. I shall put you to sleep"

"Stop!" But just then the jeep arrived in front of the terminal, Cable and company jumped out of the seats. "Prospero?" They quickly saw who he was threatening. "Ah.." And the fortune teller did not expect to see them again, nor had he looked forward to it. "How adorable. The female priests and their friends want to stop me." He dismissed the weapon and turned his shielded eyes to them. "We should have thought about this, instead of just leaping into action." Cleo grumbled. Now that she knew who they were rescuing, she felt less good about it. "We had no time, he was about to act." Christine was more determined. "A life is a life. No matter what he did in the past." After all theyalready let Madlyn follow them. "What are you doing here, Iron Pillar?" Cable asked the attacker. "Cleansing the world. That is all you need to hear." He was not going to let them stop him. "Do not think you can defeat me again, humans. Without the power of The Pharaoh you are too weak to make a difference. And there is no chance of you or him escaping"

_**"Especially not you.. Caruso."**_

Prospero heard his heartbeat and felt a lump in his throat. "Who?" Behind him someone spoke, which should have been impossible since he leaned against a wall. "Look out!" Yet there he was, a black figure right behind him. "gah!" He came from the walls. "Is that.. is it happening?" Actually it seemed to come from his shadow, which was similar to what they had heard about Colin. "Indeed." Zakarias knew what was happening as well, and certainly appeared happy with the results. _**"Hello.. Caruso.. Do you like what you see?" **_And they would be right, what now stood next to Prospero was his exact opposite aside from the black and grey tones. "What is going on?" Prospero was understandably freaked out. _**"Did the Tauk never show us this? I guess it did not.. I am a part of you, Caruso." **_The shadow on the other hand was the picture of calmness. "Stop calling me that, I am not.." He started to shout, only for his other self to raise his hand. _**"Prospero? I agree, that gimmick died when you lost what made us unique.."**_

"Did you do this?" Cable asked Zakarias. "This is a natural occurence, human. One that all impurities must undergo. I have no hand in this." He called upon a deck of cards. "But you.. you are different. You lack sins.. and you lack the protection from my Creator." He pointed at Cable. "Protection?" That almost sounded like good news to some. "Indeed. Ka desires that the priests of this generation stay alive. However.. only two here have that title." Cleo and Christine were chosen by Raness, Madlyn and Cable were less fortunate. "You are free to go where you please, you can not affect the process anymore. But the lives of these two.. will be mine." And the Iron Pillar trusted that a girl like Halliday would have to face her own shadow very soon, so he was only worried about Fraser. "Aaaah!!!" Just then Prospero screamed out loud and made a run for it. _**"Still running, Caruso?" **_However his shadow easily kept up with him. "Damn it, we can not let him face that alone." Cleo hissed. "Then go after him." Suddenly Cable took out his dueldisk. "What?" It appeared he was willing to accept Zakarias as an opponent. "Let me deal with this guy. You guys go after Prospero and save him." And they would not ask twice. The three girls ran off, following the two Prospero's.

"You are ready for the end then.." Zakarias inserted his cards into his veiny wristfused dueldisk. "We shall see.." He also inserted his deck. "You can go first." As they were about to start their duel, something appeared next to the Iron Pillar. "Hm? You can see.." And Zakarias noticed that Cable was reacting to it. "Is that.. your spirit ally?" He had heard about it, how these pillars had special monsters to aid them during a duel. "You are correct. You have already heard his name.. Paradius." The phantom became less transparent, Fraser could see his true nature now. Paradius was the owner of the scythe, a skeletal jackal dressed in egyptian armor. "And now his effect will be used. The five pieces will fly into your deck, to seal your doom." This was the reason why five strange cards always appeared in his victims decks, and the jackal was about to make Fraser into his seventh victim. "Heh." However the enemy was in for a surprise. "What in Ka's name..." The five cards bounced right out of his deck, rejected by the disk. "You wont like it when I say this; my deck is already full." Cable was smiling, because he had 60 cards in his deck, the limit of any official deck. "It seems.. you can not break all rules. Not in our world at least.."

The others tracked down Prospero into the departure area, the two were facing each other in one of the piers. _**"I know you agree with me, Caruso. You thought about it yourself... This is all your fault." **_While that was true, Prospero did not like to listen to it. "I did not want this.." Was his only answer. _**"It will just be easier if you let me end this. You just have to accept me, and you can forget all that bothersome guilt.." **_The shadow smiled. "Prospero, do not let him talk to you like that!" Christine tried to yell at him to snap him out of it. "This is not your fault. You thought you were doing what it took to save the world, didn't you?" He did not seem to hear her. "Hey idiot!" So Cleo went for a more tactful approach. "What?" This did get a rise out of him. "If you don't like being called that, stop acting like one. It's one thing to mess up, but it's even worse to take the easy way out. Just be smart and learn from your mistakes!" While she did not agree with Rose entirely, she too did not want to see a 'shadow' win. "You.."

Prospero looked at his own twisted reflection. "No.." Prospero shook his head. "No, I can not accept you. You are a part of what I tried to preven.!" He took out a dueldisk. "If you want to take over, you wont do it with words.." The shadow narrowed his eyes. _**"If you insist. But do you think you have what it takes to face me? I am you.." **_He had the same dueldisk on his hand, it materialized from nothingness. _**"It does not take a psychic to predict how this duel will go." **_His deck would have the same cards in it as Prospero's deck. "I am ready, for them and for you." He activated the device. _**"We will be the judge of that."**_

Prospero's LP: 8000 Shadow Prospero's LP: 8000

"I go first!" Prospero drew his sixth card. "I set one monster facedown and one trap card." Even if they both had the same cards, they could not draw the same hands unless their shuffles somehow worked out the same way as well. _**"On the defensive..." **_And in that case, the shadow would have to guess which 1 of 20 Psychics he had set, which 1 of 6 traps was waiting. _**"I activate two spell cards: Psi-Station and the field of the Brain Research Lab." **_The hallway was transformed into a laboratory, and at the center were energy generating coils. _**"You know what these cards do. The Lab will allow me to normal summon two Psychics every turn." **_He demonstrated that effect by calling out the Psychic Commander(1400/800) and Telekinetic Shocker(1700/700). _**"And Psi-station can boost the strength of normal summoned Psychics by 300 points by and level by 1. For the price of 500 lifepoints" **_His life dropped by a thousand, as the Commander(1700/800) went up to level 4 and the Shocker(2000/700) went up to level 5.

Shadow Prospero: 7000

"Synchro summon?" The girls knew that the Commander was a Tuner monster. "Of the ninth level?" And he did perform that summon. _**"Commander and Shocker, I combine them to form the Hyper Psychic Blaster" **_The endresult was a dualwielding gunman Psychic(3000/25000). _**"When it attacks, it inflicts piercing damage! **_The Psycho synchro aimed one gun at the normal Prospero and destroyed his facedown monster with a single shot. It was a Pandaborg(1700/1400), so Prospero lost 1600 lifepoints. "_**Plus he restores my lifepoints by the amount that you lose!" **_The other gun fired at the shadow, healing him by 1600. "Ggh. I will not let you trample all over me, when Pandaborg dies I can pay 800 lifepoints and special summon another Psychic to my field." He called out a psychic possessing a walking computer, Destructron(1600/400). "And also I activate Psi-Curse!" He flipped his trap card. "I can destroy a monster that killed my Psychic!" The Gunner started to burst with energy, that destroyed him from the inside out. "And then inflict 300 damage for every level of the monster you killed." The Borg was of the 4th level, the shadow lost 1200 lifepoints. _**"So you want to fight until the end. But you are too late.. Joe Caruso.."**_

Prospero's LP: 5600 Shadow Prospero's LP: 7400

Meanwhile in Egypt Colin and company had a new goal. "If I was a megalomaniac bent on ruling the world with darkness and perfection, where would I hide?" They were travelling the dark roads with a vehicle they had 'commandeered'. "We should search the area of wherever Raness's old kingdom was. Seneska could at least have one or two hideouts there." Of course it would be a lot easier if they had outside help. But not even Ananka knew where to begin looking. "Wait... if we want Raness to help us find his sister." Nero then remembered a certain theory he had earlier. "Stop the car.." He asked William who pulled over at the side of the road. "What are you planning to do?" He saw that Nero took out the Millennium Ring, and his own dueldisk. "This card.. is still here." In his hand was Neos Wiseman, the monster that had miraculously shown up in his deck when he needed it. "The card you thought the Pharaoh gave you?" He had then thought Raness placed it in his deck, since everyone claimed he could alter fate itself.

"His soul.. might be closer by than we think." He stepped out of the car. "If he is.. I can not sense him." Said Ananka who was still with them. "It could be just a small part. But that is the power of this ring, remember?" Zevgar had told them how the Ring could take parts of people's minds and hide them in objects. "Perhaps the Pharaoh managed to hide his soul inside here, when Thryall attacked the Puzzle with it." Of course to try it out, he needed a person. "If Raness is in here, maybe he can talk to us like that priest once did." However he got no response. "I am not touching that." Colin shivered. "And if it does not work on me.." Elias tried it, but he felt nothing from the Ring either. "It is a nice idea, but.." He had little hope. "There must be something, some reason for this card to exist. Maybe I should try something else."

He asked to stop the car for a reason. "Maybe we need.. an emptier.." He looked at the road, one car was on it. "You are not suggesting that.." Before anyone could object, he walked over the other car and checked it out. "If it has to be done." The window was open, he managed to pry the door open as well. "If it wont work on Elias, why would it work on them?" Inside were two people, husband and wife. He placed the ring around the mans neck, and the card in his hand. "..." Nothing happened. "Nero.." But he did not give up just yet, so he tried the woman. "..." Again there was no change... at first. "I had to try guys." He was about to take it off, when the womans hand rose up. "Yaah!!" And snatched his wrist. "Do not do that.." She spoke to him with a cold tone. "Ranes?!!" Had his plan worked? "No.. not him.. My name is Jane.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 084: Live, Long and Prosper)

**New Cards used by (Shadow)Prospero  
**Panda Borg  
Destructotron

-  
Psi-Station  
Brain Research Lab

-  
Psi-Curse


	84. Live, Long and Prosper

**New Testament 084: Live, Long and Prosper**

"Jane?" Ananka did know who that was. But the others had the appropriate level of amazement. "Jane.. as in Jane Doe, as in Jane-I-was-inside-Jacksons-mind Doe?" Elias only knew one girl with that name that could possibly be the type to possess other people's minds. "It appears so." Jackson was shocked, but kept himself calm. "Jack..." The woman in the car saw him and let go of Nero's wrist. "You are.. here.." And all of the sudden she ran out, closed the distance and... "Whoa!" ..embraced the ex-symbolist. "It is you, it is!" She sure was excited. "Calm down Jane!" He would have pulled himself free if this situation had been less confusing for him. "How.. why.. when.." So someone else had to do the questioning for him. "Jane Doe, is it? How did you end up in the Millennium Ring?" Carter asked her. "..." She looked at him as if he had insulted her deeply. "Please tell them.." Jack himself managed to say to her. "...Okay." She released him and coughed a bit before talking. "The Pharaoh did this."

"I see.. He said he would, but when could he have.." They remembered now that Raness had made a promise to find help for the spirit of Jane Doe. But since he was beaten and captured by Seneska, there could not have been a time where he managed to do so. "He promised, and he did it. Because Lead attacked him, he attacked Lead." While her explanation was vague, Jackson understood what she was saying. "Raness tried to hide a part of his soul in the item of Thryall, but he could only get you to hide in there instead?" He said, and she nodded. "He wanted you.. to win." She showed Nero the Neos Wiseman card. "Your fusions, could beat Leads Ka. So I stole some.. and made a new spirit of it. And you.." Then she pointed at Elias. "Gave it to him.. while he was in the memories. It all happened fast.." Elias found that easy to believe, what with how weird everything was up until now. "But is that all, or did he ask you to do more?" William asked again. "Yes. He wants me.. the shadow.. to help. So that I can show you, the way to his sister.."

Back at the airport terminal, Zakarias and Cable Fraser were engaged in a fierce duel. However it was a bit one-sided. "Protoss Dark Templar, attack him directly!" Because Zakarias could not use the powers of his Ka ally, Paradius. "Tsk." So his main strategy was crippled, and without it he could not overpower the duelist. "You wretched human, to think your techhnology and rules inhibit my full potential." He was losing lifepoints every turn, at this rate he would lose his physical body again. "I shall not let you get away with this, not someone who was not chosen by The Pharaoh!" And then in the middle of their fight, he just stepped away. "Where are you going?" The holograms of the monsters were fading already. "I do not need to risk myself against the likes of you! Others, like the shadows will come to finish my task for me!" He flew away through the smashed windows. "... Oookay.. Guess I win.." With that out of the way, he could at least go after the others and see how they were doing.

Prospero's LP: 5600 Shadow Prosporo's LP: 7400

_**"I am not lying you know. You can not stop what is coming.. the shadow world will take over.." **_Said the shadow of the great fortune teller. _**"If you had gone more in depth with the visions of the Tauk, you would see how futile it all is." **_The only monster left on the field was the special summoned Destructotron(1600/400). That monster had the ability to destroy facedown spell or trap cards during the endphase, so the dark Prospero was not inclined to set his traps just yet. "But if you are me, then you also should only know everything I know.." The real Prospero said as he drew his card. _**"Unless us shadows happen to be more connected to the great Ka than you think." **_The other laughed. "I choose not to believe you either way. And stop calling me Caruso, I am Prospero now!" He activated his own Psi-station spell card, and used it to empower the Psychic Jumper(400/1500) he summoned. By paying 500 LP, the level 2 tuner shot up to level 3. "Synchro summon!" He tuned the level 3 Destructotron with Jumper to call the level 7 Psychic Lifetrancer(2400/2000) from her deck. "Direct attack!" The cybernetic girl gathered spheres of dark and white energy in her hands and fired the dark energy at the shadow. _**"Whatever you say.."**_

Prospero's LP: 5100 Shadow Prosporo's LP: 5000

"Then during the endphase, I user her effect to remove 2 Psychics from play while healing my lifepoints." He removed Pandaborg and the Jumper, and the girl released the white restorative energy at him. "Set trap card, end turn." Now he was in the lead. _**"Feeling confident now are we? But still, this will be your first duel you did not predict with the Tauk." **_The shadow drew again. "I know enough about the game to fight!" he protested. _**"Really? Maybe you would have liked to let one of them fight?" **_He pointed at the girls on the sideline. "If it comes to that, I will gladly do so." Cleo snapped at him. "No, this is my duel." Prospero yelled back. _**"Indeed, so it should be.." **_He placed a trap card and summoned a new machine man(1500/800). "Reinforced Human Psychic Borg?" Prospero of course knew what this one could do; remove up to two Psychics in the grave to boost his power. _**"I remove the Commander and the Shocker." **_For each the Borgs power went up by 500, so now it(2500/800) was stronger than the Lifetrancer.

Prospero's LP: 6300

_**"More.. spell card: Psychic Path." **_He payed 800 LP for the spell. _**"Two Psychics, that were removed, come back to my hand" **_He took the two the Cyborg had used for his boosts. _**"Then I use the Brain Lab to normal summon the Telekinetic Shocker."**_ The laboratory field spell gained a second counter as the dynamic Psychic(1700/700) appeared. "Double attack!" The Reinforced Psychic used his cybernetic sword to cut down the female Synchro and Prospero got shocked by the Telekinetic one. "Aargghh!!!" Of course with his enemy a magically induced shadow, the holograms could cause real pain in this duel.

Prospero's LP: 4500 Shadow Prosporo's LP: 4200

"You.." Wasting no time he went to his turn immediately and summoned the Psychic Snail(2200/1200), also charged up by his Psistation at the cost of 500 lifepoints. "Psychokinesis!" He then activated the card that would destroy a face-up card if he controlled a Psychic, and lost a thousand lifepoints. "I will use it on the Human Borg!" However while the Snail tried to mentally crush one Psychic, the other intervened. _**"Forgetting your own card effects already? I counter with the Shocker!" **_The Telekinetic could give up his own life, to save another Psychic. And while normally this drained lifepoints from the user of that effect, the Brain Research Lab would forego the payment at the cost of another counter. "Do not let your anger get the best of you Prospero!" Christine warned him. "Grrr.. I activate Emergency Teleport, to special summon my Psychic Commander from my deck!" The level 3 tuner(1400/800) was warped onto the field. "Now I syncho summon the Thought Ruler!" He tuned it with the Snail whose level was upped to 5. Out came the level 8 Archfiend Synchro(2700/2300). "Just go away, Psychic Borg!" It swiped at the enemy with its claws, scrapping the cyborg. "I'd say that anger is working pretty well for him." Madlyn smiled.

Prospero's LP: 3000 Shadow Prospero's LP: 4000

_**"I wonder why you are mad though. In a way you are still beating yourself up over your failure." **_The shadow started his turn again. "Shut up.. this is not like that at all." Prospero did not accept that analogy_. __**"But this is undeniably part of your desire to make things right. 'I am a part of what went wrong with the world, and If you can not defeat your own demons, you have no hope against the true evil.. right?"**_He placed a monster facedown and placed a second trap down as well. _**"And if the world goes back to normal, will you just pretend that I do not exist. That 'Joe Caruso' does not exist?" **_He ended his turn. "Exist?.. You keep calling me that, yet now you say you represent that part of me as well?" The shadowy psychic nodded. _**"Of course! I have been part of your soul ever since your mind understood the concept of right and wrong!" **_He shouted at his human self. "And I assume even defeating you will only hold you back temporarily. Even so, I do not intend to waste time on you anymore!"

He activated his trap card. "Psychic Overload, I send three dead Psychics back into my deck and draw two cards!" Destructotron, Psycho Commander and the Snail were chosen to return. "Then an attack!" The Archfiend destroyed the Commander(1400/800) the enemy had set. "Then I set two cards and I end my turn." And it was barely the shadow's turn again, as one of those two cards was activated. "I activate Dust Tornado, to destroy Brain Research Lab!" He knew that field through and through, including its weakness. When destroyed, all counters on the Laboratory would inflict 1000 damage to its owner. "He will take 3000 damage!" Acid splashed out of the research pods. _**"He hopes.." **_But then the shadow activated a quickplay spell card; Spell of Pain. _**"But you do not deserve to ignore all that. You have to endure the agony!" **_The spell redirected all damage to another duelist, the acid came for Prospero. "To negate effect damage I use Lifeforce Harmonizer!" But he could discard an amorphous Psychic to nullify the damage.

_**"You save yourself, but you can not hurt me.. And now I will make our final prediction together, now you will lose it all.." **_He activated both his trap cards. _**"I use Call of the Haunted to bring back my Synchro.. and Battle Teleportation to give him the killing blow." **_From his grave came Hyper Psychic Blaster(3000/2500), both guns loaded. "Damn it." Cleo remembered that this was how Prospero beat Colin before, the Psychic could now attack the player directly. "He has only 3000 lifepoints left.." And the Gunman re-appeared right in front of the fortune teller. _**"Goodbye me. All your worries will fade away now.." **_The gun was placed against his forehead, and... the trigger did not budge. _**"What?" **_Prospero had activated his last trap. "You did not see this coming?" Changing Destiny, it negated its attack and forced the Synchro to defense mode. Afterwards the enemy could choose to damage Prospero or heal himself, the amount being equal to half of the Blasters attack points. "Or perhaps.. you only saw your own end?"

Shadow Prospero's LP: 5500

Wordlessly the shadow went with the healing effect. But it did not matter anymore. "During the endphase, Battle Teleportation will send your monster over to my field. That is its cost.. it should only be used as a last resort." As the turn shifted to him, so did the level 9 synchro Psychic. The shadow was defenseless, out of cards. _**"You could not have known this would happen.." **_It spoke with a defeated tone. "I did not. I just went with the flow.. Maybe I should have done that all along." If he attacked now, he would win. _**"The flow of the present is against you.." **_It objected softly. "Yes, it might be too late to find a flow I can live with. But in that case I will do anything in my power to give the world the future it deserves." And so he did attack, Thought Ruler and Hyper Blaster overwhelmed the dark Prospero. _**"Just do not ever.. forget the past. Or you will have no future.." **_It spoke its last words as he submitted to the force. "I will not. I will not forget that I was born as Joe Caruso..." He smiled, and so did the shadow before it slipped into the floor.

Shadow Prospero's LP: 0

"Girls!" With impeccable timing, Cable showed up just in time to witness the end of the duel. "You made it." He sighed a breath of relief. "So did you.. How did you manage that?" Madlyn was curious about his luck. "I will tell you later. It was not very enlightening however.." And now Prospero could focus on his viewers again. "You came all the way here. How did you find me...?" He had thought that nobody would want to see him again, unless it was to arrest him. "We followed the enemy actually.. But we knew he would endanger the lives of innocents." Rose explained. "I see. But you are not like the others." He did not understand why he was not just put to sleep, but at least he was not alone. "It is a long story. But now that we found you, we could use your help." Cable said kindly. "You.. want my help... after what I did?" He was stunned. "Sure, you can duel can't you?" Caine was willing to put aside a grudge if it meant more fighting power. "We are going to find the one that did this. And.. we would like it if you came along. Prospero.."

"Oh.. you can call me Joe." He responded, which was his way of saying that he was in.

....

Meanwhile in the skies, Seneska and some of her servants were holding another projected conversation. "They have driven off Zakarias. How hilarious." They had seen the defeat of the Iron Pillar, and Dioscure was especially amused. "Those children trouble me. Creator, why do we let them walk?" Archon was less pleased. **"I said that the priests were not to be harmed, Silver Pillar. Their presence is not enough to delay the summoning." **Seneska however did not appreciate his questions. "But they know about the source, they might find out where the gate will open! This is no time to act uninterested and do nothing!" He started to shout. "Silver.." Fatimah tried to calm him, but he did not let her finish. "We have to do something. You have to let me finish my mission!" The Magus appeared to think about it, but she turned to Dioscure instead. **"Copper Pillar, take over the tasks of Zakarias. The rest of you proceed with the cleansing." **She then ended the conference. "Yes..Creator." They all said , wihile Archon clenched his fist.

(To be Continued in New Testament 085: Inseparable)

**New Cards used by (Shadow)Prospero  
**Reinforced Human Psychic Borg

-  
Psychic Path  
Spell of Pain

-  
Psychic Overload  
Dust Tornado  
Changing Destiny


	85. Inseparable

**New Testament 085: Inseparable**

"Damn it. An entire airport and not one helicopter? What a cop-out.." The gang of five had searched through the entire port, which they found out only had planes and jets. "I do not trust my skills enough with a vehicle of that size, sadly." Cable never trained for this. "Then we have to find another port, right? Maybe we should have looked at different locations, like hospitals.." Christine knew they tended to have helicopters as well. "That could work... But wait, doesn't Lydia know how to fly as well?" Prospero said, as he was wondering why she was not with them. "Lydia bailed on us a while ago, she even left Marcus behind. While we could use her help, we have no idea where to find her." Cleo then looked at Madlyn. "Unless you know where she could be hanging out right now." But the girl shook her head. "Sorry. She never talked to me much.."

As for where she really was, Lydia was taken to see a factory. "What are we doing here?" A card creating factory. "To be ready for what is coming next, you will need the latest improvements in your deck." The girl said as she walked over to one of the boxes, cutting it open with a knife. "So.. we are stealing weapons, so to speak?" She scoffed as the girl took out a few packs. "Why not? If it saves the people, and they wont be able to tell afterwards.." Rivet smirked. "Your suitcase does seem heavy for just a dueldisk holder." Lydia remarked. "You would not happen to have 'helped' that academy as well, would you?" The scarred man just chuckled. "Imply all you want, this is the way we work." Then the girl handed Lydia a single card. "This is a prototype, a counter to enemies like the one you faced." Blackstone took it. "This is nice and all, but should we not be doing something to help the world?" Looting storage rooms did not see like a good plan. "Trust the master's foresight, Lydia. This dark hour will be taken care off, by others.."

Back with Cable and company, they had seen enough of the place and were about to return to their jeep, when.. "Gahhh!!!" The spirit of Ananka reappeared in their midsts, scaring the living daylights out of the-not-yet-introduced Prospero. "He is here?" Ananka was surprised to see him as well, though she know off him already. "You do not need to be scared, Joe. This is a friend of ours." Christine clarified. "Uh-huh.. and you also all know that she is a ghost?" They nodded. "Okay then." He sat down. "Why not.." Even if the Tauk had shown him this would happen, he would not have believed it. "Ananka, why are you here? Did something happen?" Cable asked her. "Yes, but it was a positive change. I do not know how much Jackson told you about it, but a certain aspect of him has turned up in this world..."

So she told them everything, about Jacksons repaired mind, about Raness's trick with the Millennium Ring, and all about Jane Doe. "And I am the one they call mad." Halliday sighed. "Jane has returned.. can we trust her?" Cleo did not like the sound of being aided by a Shadow. "I sensed no deception. That girl is not like other shadows, she has grown in different ways. At any rate, with her and my information we figured out what is happening to this world." She looked up at the sky. "As I feared, the barrier between our world and the shadow world is weakening. The human soul is stripped of all its power and evil, allowing it to roam free. The more people sleep, the stronger the darkness becomes. At this rate, humanity itself might become trapped in hell forever, while their spirits and their shadows destroy the world of the living."

"But.. Jane claims to know how to find Seneska. An idea that will not necessitate you to travel halfway across the world. It will not be pleasant however, as it involves the Millennium Ring and the souls of the priests of this generation." This did not sound that pleasant either. "What will happen?" Caine regretted asking already. "It is a theory. But by using Jane's nature as a shadow and her connection to Jackson and his connection to the others who went to the Memory World, with all that we might be able to send souls to the shadow world. The fact that William has already been there once proves that humans can walk freely in it." The duelists gasped. "To go there? Isn't that suicide?" Cable had read how terrible that place was. "I was not entirely right. Seneska is not hiding in our world, she has returned to the source of darkness itself, the place were dark thoughts are cultivated. Thanks to the seven anchors she can come and go as she pleases. If we wait until the barrier breaks, there wont be a point to stopping her anymore." The only way to reach her in time, was to willingly go to that hell. "Then we have no choice.."

"Oh you have a choice, you can die.."

"What?" A new voice caught everyone's attention. "Greetings, hello." On top of a lanternpole stood the Pillar Cable had dueled in person, Dioscure of the Copper element. "Damn it, how did he get here so fast?" He must have used the portal trick. "You made Zakaraias run, didn't you? Funny that was.." And they quickly realized what he came here to do. "You are replacing him eh?" Now that they had figured out his flaw, they sent another. "I already beat you. The priests need to be left alone." He scanned the entire group and stopped at one figure. "Oh, who is this? We do not recognize her." Ananka was one they did not expect to see. "It must be a ghost that escaped, we can not have her run free." They also noticed Madlyn and Prospero. "And they resist their shadows, or even ignore them. They must be finished off, yes." He landed on the ground. "They will fight us of course." He already had a dueldisk on his wrist. "This one.. he splits into two and then they heal each other when they are about to die." Cable could recall the duel all too well.

"Then maybe we should fight them one on one?" Prospero figured that was the obvious way out. "We do not fight.. one.. on.. one..." Predictably the gemini duelist split up into two forms again. "But you have a limit of copies apparently." Christine thought he would only be able to duel two at a time. "Two is enough." The left one said. "Two times two, who is first?" The right one asked. "I do not suppose you can actually duel for yourself, can you?" Cleo asked Ananka. "I fear not. I can not affect them." And she did not want to flee, as it would just draw their attention to the others in Egypt and what they were planning. "Then I shall fight for you." Christine activated her dueldisk and stepped up. "Christine..." Nobody second-guessed her, but she could use partner for a duel like this. "Then, I shall help you." Madlyn said, stunning Cleo. "What, you?" Cleo did not like that either. "They already beat mr. Fraser, and Prospero needs a rest. So I will let them target me first." She thought it was logical. "Madlyn.. I thank you." Rose accepted that. "Let's go!"

Madlyns LP: 8000 Christine's LP: 8000

Rightwings LP: 8000 Leftwings LP: 8000

"Remember, this is not a normal tag-match. Their lifepoints are separate, and they can not defend their team mates. But, the same applies to you." The oddness of this tagmatch was what lost him the game last time. "Got it!" Christine went first, by summoning a Familiar Knight(1200/1400) and placing one card facedown. "Your move." Then Leftwing drew his cards. "I shall summon this, Gemini Scorpion." He called out a pair of daggerwielding warriors(1600/400). "When summoned they special summon a Gemini." And then a jesterlike spellcaster(1800/1600) followed. "Tuned Magician." The twin then placed two cards facedown and ended its turn. "They changed their strategy?" Cable knew this was not how they played the first time. "My turn." Madlyn placed three traps and one monster face-down and a very dangerous spell card face-up.

"Black Garden?" In an instant the parking lot was covered with thornes black vines. "This spell weakens all monsters, and grows seeds in response." Rose was shocked to see her use this, because she too would suffer because of it. "Madlyn.." She however ignored her partner and allowed Rightwing to start his turn. He did not seem worried much. "Continuous spell card: Herculean Power. Once per turn, a Gemini will be special summoned from the hand." He called out his Future Samurai(1600/1200). "Black Garden activates." Immediately he was trapped and drained by tendrils(800/1200). And the Garden then gave Madlyn one seed-token(800/800). Still the enemy did not seem to care. "Then I set one monster card and two cards in the magic/trap zone." Nnow the fight could truly begin and Rose could attack first.

"I summon Eric, the Ryu-Kai Master!" Unfortunately the warrior she summoned was trapped by the Garden vines as well and a second token appeared. "She counts as my enemy?" She would have thought this turn the geminis would get the tokens. "This really is different from a standard tagteam match." Prospero said. "In that case.." She had ways to repower Eric. "I activate Aura of the Ryu-Kai. Which makes Baxter immune to continuous effects!" Using a crimson red energy aura, the Master(1800/1700) burned away the tentacles. "Plus, when I discard a card he gains 500 attackpoints, the Aura spell will double that!" She discarded John Baker from her hand and Eric's aura increased in size (Eric: 2800/1300). "Familiar Knight kills that facedown monster, while Baxter attacks the Scorpion!" Her two warriors easily slew the non-gemini cards. However the set monster was a wind-elemental mage: Featherizer(700/1100). When it died Rightwing could discard a Gemini from his deck and draw one new card. He discarded an Infinity Dark. "End turn."

Leftwings LP: 6800

_Aura of the Ryu-Kai, Equip Spell  
__A monster equipped with this card is unaffected by continuous card effects.  
__If this card is equipped to 'Eric Baxter - the Ryu Kai Master', double the increases to his attack and defense points._

"It seems a connection has been lost." Leftwing drew a card. "Then it is up to me/us to bring it all together. Polymerization." It appeared they could use fusion as well, as they fused two Gemini monsters in their hand. "Fusion monster: Super-Allow Beast Raptinus." Raptinus was a combination of various bodyparts stitched together to form one dragonlike being(2200/2200). The Garden of course constricted it entirely(1100/1100). "Raptinus will unseal all other Gemini." The Tuned Magician and Future Samurai could now use their powers. "Wait.. _Tuned_ Magician?" And they saw that the spellcaster had gained tuner-status due to this. "Level 4 Magician and level 4 Samurai. Come together.." So after a fusion summon they performed a synchro summon, and they called out a large bull dragon(3000/2600). "Black Brutdrago." That too had to suffer the Garden, and now Madlyn had a total of four tokens on her field. "And now that field ends.." Leftwing flipped the trap Backup Soldier, to send three normal monsters from the grave to his hand.

"Dark Valkyria, Phoenix Gearfried and Tuned Magician." He retook the fusion materials and the Tuner. "Then we discard one Gemini, to let the Dragon destroy one spell." They threw away Gearfried, and all of the black vines dissolved into a fine ashlike powder. "My.. garden.." Then the second material gemini was normal summoned, the Dark counterpart of the Dunames Valkyrie(1800/1050). "It's is unsealed as well. Once it can gain a spellcounter to boost its attack." The winged witch(2100/1050) strengthened herself. "One attack, two attack, three attack" He sent his three monsters, the Valkyrie and the fusion blew two of the four tokens to smithereens. Brutdrago(1500/2600) meanwhile crushed a small cotton ball plant, the Spore(400/800) under its feet. "Finally, Dark Valkyria will use her ability." The witch(1800/1050) had sacrificed her spell counter, and fired it towards the Familiar Knight as if it were a missile. "She can destroy one card on the field, and I/we choose that one" The Knight was blasted through the chest and collapsed. "Tsk."

Madlyns LP: 6400

"You destroyed my pretty garden." Madlyn said with a strange tone of sadness. "I guess you will have to die first." She activated a spell, which destroyed one of her two tokens. "Fragrance Storm, by killing one plant I can draw a card. If it is a plant, I draw again." She drew and added Lonefire Blossom to her hand, so she could draw a second time. "But.. your fusion, unseals all Gemini monsters?" She summoned the fiery flower(500/1400). "Thats is good, because.." And Lonefire sacrificed itself to special summon a Gigaplant from her deck. "Oh! That's a gemini monster too!" The Venus flytrap(2400/1200) had its powers unlocked thanks to Raptinus. "Revive Lonefire.." It rooted up the Blossom that had just tributed itself. "Gigaplant number two." Only for it to die again so that a second Gemini Gigaplant could appear. "And again." The second revived Lonefire, the Lonefire was exchanged for a third Gigaplant who revived the same plant a third time. "Princess." Finally the chain ended, as Lonefire gave its life to call out Tytannial(2800/2600).

"Amazing" Cable could not have foreseen that he would use their monsters like this. "And now.. for the fun." She smiled and sent all four highlevel plants out towards Leftwing. Dark Valkyria was the first to die, as she was slaughtered by the Camellia Princess. "Trap card: Gemini Trap Hole." However Rightwing came to his twins aid. "When a Gemini dies, all opposing monster go down with it." A large hole appeared beneath Madlyns army. "No it will not." She however flipped a counter trap. "Pollinosis, I sacrifice a plant to negate your effect." The last garden token burst into pollen dust, which closed up the hole. "So my attacks continue.." Two Gigaplants killed off Raptinus and Brutdrago. "Then Trap card: Blossom Bombardement. I inflict damage equal to the monster killed by one plant of mine." She used this when Brutdrago died, so Leftwing lost 3000 lifepoints. "Wait Madlyn, if you attack now..." The flower girl had one attack left that should finish the twin. .. they will use their special power!" Rightwing could still heal Leftwing. "Too late!"

Leftwings LP: 600

(To be Continued in New Testament 086: Hates me, Loves me not)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Aura of the Ryu-Kai_

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Spore

-  
Fragrance Storm

-  
Pollinosis  
Blossom Bombardement

**New Cards used by The Dioscuri  
**Gemini Scorpion  
Tuned Magician  
Featherizer  
Superalloy Beast Raptinus  
Black Brutdrago  
Dark Valkyria

-  
Herculean Power  
Polymerization

-  
Backup Soldier  
Gemini Trap Hole


	86. Hates me, Loves me Not

**New Testament 086: ****Hates me, Loves me not**

"Something is wrong." Nero and the others were still on the road, preparing the plan. "Ananka should have returned by now, said something." They had been waiting for her for half an hour by now. "Maybe they were attacked by shadows or monstrous Ka." Carter did not like to be negative, but those were the possibilities. "If there are so many monsters running about, why havent we seen any as of yet?" Colin started to think that part was just an embelishment. "Who knows. But shadows.. or even Pillars, are a real threat. And no offense Colin, but if even you can manifest something.. " Doe shuddered to think what they could encounter.

Christine's LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 6400

Rightwings LP: 8000 Leftwings LP: 600

"Madlyn, stop!" The last Gigaplant headed for the lefthanded Dioscure, however this would allow his other half to heal him. "Wait, what?" However there was no need, Leftwing was not as undefended as he first appeared to be. "Phoenix Gearfried?" A fiery white knight(2800/2200) emerged from the cemetery. "Oh! That was the synchro's effect! When Black Brutdrago dies, he revives a Gemini monster." And it had called out one of the fusion materials for Raptinus. "..." Madlyn could not finish off the pillar, even if she wanted. "Then.. him." Instead she attacked the other directly and ended her turn. "That was a close call." Cable sighed. "Madlyn, if you want to help, you also need to listen!" Cleo yelled at her. "It's okay Cleo, she just did not know his power." Christine tried to calm the goth down. "No. I wanted to see the power." But Halliday did the opposite. "What?" She pointed at a figure behind the twins, a single entity. "Is that.. their Ka spirit?" They could not get a good look at it, it soon faded away. "My/our turn." And now they could strike back.

Rightwings LP: 5600

"Herculeans Power reactivates." Because he again controlled no monsters, Rightwing could call out the Gemini, Evocator Chevalier(1900/900). "Then Energy Bravery." He also normal summoned an electrically charged martial artist(1700/1200). "And I/we activate spell card, Supervise." Leftwing also played a card, equipping his facedown spell to Evocator. "This unseals his powers." The swordsman gained a fiery aura as it shifted from normal monster to effect monster status. "His effect; to discard one spell and to destroy one monster." Supervise was released, and a blast of fire headed towards Tytannial. "Then I use her effect." Madlyn could sacrifice one of her Gigaplants to redirect the effect, sending the fire back to the Chevalier. "But..when Energy Bravery exists, Gemini monsters can not be harmed by other abilities." The flames were deflected by a wall of lightning. "Furthermore, when Supervise is sent to the grave, one Gemini can use it to free herself from death." A fiery portal opened, through which Dark Valkyria(1800/1050) flew.

"Then, we shall attack the priestess." And during his battle phase, the crimson one slew Eric Baxter(1800/1700), while Energy Bravery attacked her directly. "Argh. I guess even if we are protected, they will not play nice with us." The lightning bolt she received was not exactly painless. "And I do not even know yet why we are..." Seneska must have had a reason for that. "Well let's ask. Hey maskface!" Cleo yelled at no Dioscure in particular. "Why are you not supposed to kill us 'priests"?" They both looked at her and each other. "The Creator did not say." Was their response. "She did not? Does that sit well with you? Sounds to me as if this creator does not have much respect for you." She smirked. "Nonsense." They shouted in unison. "Ka is the ruler. Ka is all. To question her, is to question oneself." They appeared to be unmovable by such suggestions, their faith in Seneska was that great. "But even if you will not take my soul, I can not let you hurt the others." Rightwing ended his turn by placing one card facedown.

Christine's LP: 6300

Christine summoned Red Claw (1800/1600), and the warrior crushed Energy Bravery with his claw. "This is not the perfection that she spoke about.. Can you not see that?" She placed one card facedown and ended her turn. "We do not have to see. That she has seen is good enough." Both twins touched the masked side of their face. "That was why he granted her our eyes, because the creator could use them in ways we never dreamed off." Leftwings turn came. "So she found you as well?" Christine recalled the story of Thryall, which Ananka had told them about as well. "She did. When noone else looked she came for us. Hunted were we, scorned were we.... for a defect. She gave our life new meaning." Leftwing placed one trap face-down. "Defect? What were you born as conjoined twins or something?" Prospero felt that could explain a lot. "A similar sadness, yes. We were born together, born as one. Our original name is lost to the ages, only she remembers. When the perfect age comes, we will all remember. And we will be hated no more.."

Rightwings LP: 5500

"Valkyria.." Leftwing re-normal summoned the witch, allowing her to gain a spellcounter(2100/1050) with her effect. Phoenix Gearfried and Dark Valkyria took their stances, the battle phase began. "Be gone, protector of plantlife." Gearfried swung his fiery blade down into the Camellia Princess, reducing her to ashes. "And destroyer of traps." The Dark Valkyrie fired a bolt of darkness that decimated Red Claw. "Then, with your shield gone. I shatter one more Plant." She gave up her counter to destroy the second of three Gigaplants. Now only one remained. "I/we set a monster and end." But before Madlyns turn really started, Leftwing and Rightwing flipped one trap each. "Birthright." Leftwing's could revive one normal monster in the cemetery, so he revived Phoenix Gearfried(2800/2200). "Gemini Booster." Rightwings boosted one Gemini's power by 700 points. ( Evocator: 2600/900) Now that Red Claw was gone, they were free to use traps again. "A sad story." Halliday said with an indifferent tone. "But I do not like the perfection you speak off..."

Christine's LP: 6000

"I do not like the idea of a painless world." Because Gigaplant(2400/1200) lost his powers when Raptinus died, she had to resummon it. "A perfect life is a life of nothingness.." Gigaplant allowed her to special summon Tytannial(2800/2600) from the cemetery. "Trap card: Overdoom Line. This boosts the power of restored plants by a thousand!" Her permanent trap was about to empower the Princess. "We counter with Gemini Counter! By switching 1 Gemini to face-down position, one spell or trap will be blocked." Sadly Overdoom Line could not activate at all, as Evocator was hidden. "Then it will hurt a little less.." She attacked regardless of powerboosts, going after Rightwing instead. The flytrap swallowed the defending Evocator whole, while Tytannial bombarded the Dioscure with rose petals. "Set monster card, end turn."

Rightwings LP: 2200

"We/I can see why you would not look forward to it. In fact it is odd to us that you have not yet manifested the sheut. But we wait not." Rightwing special summoned his next monster, a bearded reptilian archer(1400/1300). "Woodland Archer. This monster is summoned when 2 or more normal monsters are in the graveyard. And by sacrificing this card, a Gemini is added to our hand." The archer sank into the ground. "I/We add Lucky Pied Piper, and summon it with Herculean Power." A greenhaired elven boy appeared(1500/500). "It attacks your set monster." The Piper casted a wind spell with its flute, which blew away Madlyns defending Revival Rose(1300/1300). "When it slays a monster, the Pied Piper gives us 1 card to use." They drew a spell from their deck. "We activate it, Gemini Spark. Dark Valkyria will be sacrificed, and your Princess will be destroyed." The witch was converted to destructive energy. "No.." But Tytannial converted Gigaplant as well, and tributed it to save herself from the spark. "Then we end, for now.."

"My turn!" Rose did not like where this was going. "I use my trap, Call of the Haunted, to revive John Baker." She had discarded him(2000/2000) with Eric's effect earlier. "Then I add the Sword of Light to my hand with his effect. And I equip it to him." He gained one sword, and she payed 500 LP to give him another. "I also activate Genji Sword." John was strengthened greatly(3500/2000). However.. "Wait, where did those come from?" Suddenly a Infinity Dark(1500/1200) and a Future Samurai(1600/1200) were on the field. "Phoenix Gearfried used his effect! When you use a spell, he will revive a Gemini monster!" Cable explained. "But when did he get his effect unlocked? Birthright should've.." She flinched. "Oh! It's because.. of Gemini Booster.." When Chevalier had been switched face-down by Gemini Counter, Gemini Booster was destroyed. And when destroyed, it switched a normal Gemini into effect-mode. "It was used on him.. blast it." She attacked anyway, both swords cut down the Piper. "Now you are both close to the brink of defeat.."

Rightwings LP: 200

_"It appears they can only use their powers when either is about to die.."_ Which Prospero found rather symbolic of their united struggle against the world. "You are strong as well." They said as if they had heard the fortune tellers thoughts. "But it has to end, because you are still mortals." Leftwing flip summoned the Tuned Magician(1800/1600) it had set, unsealing its effect at the same time. Then he played a spell called Gemini Gate. "The gate allows us to draw two cards, if we control 3 or more Gemini." They drew two cards "Then, the spell: Unleash your Power!" Leftwing played his last card, a spell that turned all normal Gemini into effect monsters. "The Future Samurai's effect activates." Meaning Dioscure could remove on Gemini to destroy 1 face-up monster, and he removed Tuned Magician to target Tytannial. "Oh no.." This left Madlyn with no defenders. "Synchro summon.." Next the tuner was combined with Samurai, to call out Black Brutdrago(3000/2600). "Another?" It set its eyes upon a Madlyn who could no longer defend herself.

_Gemini Gate, Normal Spell  
__Activate one of the following effects, depending on the number of Gemini-monsters on your side of the field.  
__1 or more: Draw 1 Card  
__3 or more: Draw 2 Cards  
__5: Draw 3 Cards_

"Revival Rose." Allthough as a small consolation, she could revive the threeheaded Rose(1300/1300) because a level 5 or higher plant had been killed. "Our hunt has to end here.." Infinity Dark used its effect to switch the Rose to attack mode. "Feel.. your mortality.." It made an attempt to cut down her plant. "I will not let it come that far!" But Christine planned to use her facedown card. "No, Rose. I want this.." Only for Madlyn to shut that idea down. "What?" Infinity destroyed her monster, while Gearfried and Brutdrago gave her a direct attack. Madlyn was almost as close to to death's door as they were now. "...Set trap card, end turn." But she was still alive, and that was what counted. "During the endphase, all Gemini affected by Unleash your Power swill switch to a set position.." Gearfried and Infinity flipped face-down. "Madlyn, are you okay? Why did you say no.. my spell could have helped you." Her facedown was Halfshut, which would at least have kept Revival Rose alive "..I.. will be fine. My field needed to be.. empty."

Madlyns LP: 400

"For this card.." She summoned a monster, a cutesy female witch/tuner. "Witch of the Black Rose(1700/1200). If she is summoned while I control no cards, I can draw a card." Though if she drew a non-monster, the level four tuner would die. "Draw." Yet she drew without hesitation. "... I got this, Rose Fairy. This I can special summon if it is added to my hand outside of my draw phase." Next to the witch came a pink flower pixie(600/1200) of the third level. "That means.. she will use Black Rose Dragon?" Cleo knew about that card by now, though using it would also wipe out Christine's field. "I will end it this turn." She tuned the two together and called out her infamous leve 7 Black Rose Dragon (2400/1800) Yet now Leftwing flipped his trap card. "Ceasefire! All face-down monsters will go to face-up attack mode, and the opponent will lose 500 lifepoints for each effect monster on the field!" But at the same time, Rose used her trap. "Warriors Pride! I revive Red Claw from my cemetery!" The trapcrushing soldier(1800/1600) returned just in time. "His effect negates your trap!" Ceasefire 'ceased'. "Do it now, Madlyn!" She was ready for it. "I shall. Black Rose Gale!" A fierce storm erupted as the dragon destroyed all monsters and spells on the field, including itself.

_Warrior's Pride, Normal Trap  
__Select a warrior-type monster in your graveyard that was destroyed by battle. Special summon that monster. It cannot be destroyed by battle during this turn._

"But you have forgotten.." Black Brutdrago could still use its effect, when it died it would revive another Gemini. And Leftwing chose to revive the Phoenix knight(2800/2200). "I have not. I activate Seed of Deception." She special summoned a level 2 plant from her hand, a Horseytail(400/500). "It ends.. for you. The effect of Spore activates." Suddenly the cotton ball plant appeared from the cemetery(400/800). "It can regrow itself by harvesting another dead plant, and gaining its level." It had removed Lonefire Blossom, so it went from level 1 to level 4. "Synchro Summon.." And Spore was a tuner. "Level 6 Synchro monster: Splendid Rose." She combined the two plants into a female human/plant hybrid(2200/2000). "Her effect is this, I remove one plan from the graveyard to half a monsters attack." Leftwing twitched its head. "I choose your Knight." Gearfried was weakened(1400/2200) after Horseytail was removed from play. "Your other can not save you now, your life is too low. I strike." Splendid Rose took care of the ultimate Gemini.

Leftwings LP: 0

"And I did not forget about you either." She glared at Rightwing. "Her second effect." She removed another plant, Revival Rose, from her graveyard. "She can attack again, by halving her powers and harvesting another seedling." The rose warrior(1100/2000) struck again, this time taking down the defenseless Dioscure with her thorned whips. "This.. can not have happened." The two said in horrified harmony. "It has. Because your love for perfection, was not as great as our love for imperfection.." The duel was over, their souls were safe. "Now what?" Ananka wondered if the twins would just disappear, like Thryall apparently had done. "Others will come.. you can not.."

Rightwings LP: 0

"Hgk.." Without warning, both twins started to bleed from the mouth. "What?" A sharp staff had punctured the air between them. Or rather it had stabbed through their unseen spirit. "Thanks children, for weakening them.." The owner of the staff was an enemy they knew, especially Cleo. "Glyph!" Behind the copper pillar stood the tin pillar, smiling. "Your task is done, Dioscure, you can finally die.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 087: The Final Curtain)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Warrior's Pride (+)  
__(+) Based on the trap used by Yusei in YGO 5D's Manga_

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Witch of the Black Rose  
Rose Fairy  
Splendid Rose

-  
Overdoom Line

**New Cards used by The Dioscuri  
**Phoenix Gearfried  
Evocator Chevalier  
Energy Bravery  
Woodland Archer  
Lucky Pied Piper

-  
Supervise  
_Gemini Gate  
_Unleash your Power!

-  
Birthright  
Gemini Booster  
Gemini Counter  
Cease Fire


	87. The Final Curtain

**New Testament 087: The Final Curtain**

"Hiero..glyph." The Dioscuri looked back at their former ally, who had now fatally stabbed a hidden third entity. "This was your Ka ally, was it not? The spirit of Syndiazo, the divider.." In its death throes it shed its invisibility, a two-faced winged dragon resembling Raptinus was what they all saw. "Why..why.." The two pillars started to become transparent, losing their physical presence on this world. "I heard what you had to say, during your game. And unfortunately you spoke too highly of our creator, I learned that you can not betray her. But I can.." He pulled his staff back, and the dragon monster broke down like a state made from dust. "Why.. do you want to?" The Copper pillar could not understand, why would a fellow creation speak about Ka like this? "Well, let's just say that I no longer see eye to eye with her." He laughed as that pun was intentional. "And before I take things up with her. It would be best if I take out as many obedient servants as I can." And with that said, Dioscure finally fell to his own losses, the twins faded with the wind.

"What. The. Hell?" Of course the duelists were still there and they had just witnessed this example of first class backstabbing. "Surprised?" He enjoyed seeing them like that. "You could say that.." They would have been less stunned if he had just come to take over for the failing Dioscuri. Instead he killed him, and not even for a standard reason like the price of failure. "You do not understand, yet." He picked up the only things the twins had left behind, the Millennium Scales and the Copper Scales. "Try us." Cleo was not in the mood for riddles at this point. "Heh, so impatient. So passionate.. It is good that we see each other in person again, Miracle Worker. But perhaps you held back something for too long?" He suddenly pointed to her left. "Gah!" Only now did she realize, something was coming out of her shadow. "Her too?" Prospero knew what was happening. "You bastard.." Everyone backed away, her shadow appeared none the less. Yet unlike the two that came before her, this one was remarkably quiet. "Magnificent isn't she?"

And then Hieroglyph approached the shadow Caine. "What.. are you doing?" Cleo did not know whether to be upset for her sake or her shadows sake. "You can be at ease Cleo. I would not dare harm your soul." He said as the other Cleo grinned for a short while. "I am just conversing with a kindred spirit... You see.." He took off a glove from his hand. "Of all Pillars, I am the one closest to the darkness." Where a hand was supposed to be, now was nothing but a black fog. "You mean.. because you had to be the shadows of other people for all these millennia?" Cable said. "The Hero kid told you I see. Then yes it is the truth, experience as the dark side of a hundred souls, I have grown accustomed to such corruption by now." He took out the Millennium Rod. "And I have corrupted many when I lived as Glyph, he was definitely the one whose soul I enjoyed the most. And that is why, I feel a small pain.." He also pulled the Tin Hammer from his robes. "That Glyph was just used by our creator. And it made me realize.. so were we.."

"What do you mean?" Christine asked. "It should be undeniable.." He looked up. "This is not the perfection that she spoke of. Instead of bringing us to the light of god.." He glared at Ananka. ".. you know all too well what she has given us instead; the hell of spirits. The world we were banished too. Now Ka wishes to bring it to this world as well. I do not know why, but.." A nasty smirk framed his face. "I do know... that I like it." As he said this, a strong force flooded the area. "Gah.. where did this pressure come from?" They found out the next second, as a swarm of dragons, demons and other sorts of monsters swarmed towards the airport. "Whoa!" They were surrounded. "Welcome to my world.." They had no way out, yet the monsters did not advance on them. "You.. went to town with collecting inner demons didn't you?" To have this many, he had to have visited the entire country, or even more. "With the help of the seeds Glyph I still could control, I gathered as many people with a strong spirit inside their souls. To bring them together.. for my hour."

He put back both his items and grabbed the copper scales. "Do you understand why these are so important, why Thryall would rather destroy his vessel for immortality than let you get your hands on it?" He crushed the copper scales with his smoke-like hands. "Because they are the only things that can lead one to the source. To the place where we were born." He casually tossed the remnants aside. "What are you planning, Hieroglyph?" Cable wondered why he was telling them all this, when he could easily kill them all. "I have no intention of following that woman any longer. I will shape this world and all of its wonderful darkness in my own image and become the new Magus of Ka. I do not need to end your lives, because your own shadows will eventually catch up to you." He stretched out his hand, and Cleo's shadow grabbed it. Only for her to slip back into the ground. "Hey, where did she go?" Caine was concerned, it was sitll her shadow after all. "I told her to wait, that is all. They will come for me, when I have become the true ruler of the night. What you girls saw in the Memory World, was just a taste of things to come!" He started laughing maniacally as he raised his hammer into the air.

A black vortex shot out of the hellish sky, sweeping down towards the airport. "Look out!" However they did not feel the winds, nor did the environment. Instead all the monsters were sucked up into the twister, and so was Hieroglyph. "The world of shadows will merge with this world, the sun shall never return! Ahahahahah!" He headed towards the void along with all his newly acquired spirits. And they were gone just like that. "What.. what a madman." Prospero's first encounter with Glyph had left him utterly horrified. "I do not know who is worse, he or that witch." Cleo spat. "We have to face him... If he is headed for Seneska, we will cross paths again." Ananka still wanted the plan to go through. "Then tell the others that we are are ready. Well those of us that can go." Christine and Cleo looked at their friends. "This is the point where we have to stay behind?" Halliday sounded disappointed. "It appears so.. But I do not think, even you would like where we are going.."

So, on the lower side of the world, Ananka re-appeared to talk to those in Egypt. And she explained to them everything that had happened in the time she was gone. "Prospero was found huh. At least he can not come with us.." Colin said, still feeling bitter about the whole Critias ordeal. "Then they are.. ready?" Jane, as the catalyst of the coming event, would have to know when to begin. "They said they would let it happen whenever you were done." The woman nodded. "Good. Jack.." She reached out to the other symbolist. "Very well." He knew it was time, he held her hand. "This will probably feel odd." Neither Nero, William or Elias knew what to expect. "But how will this happen again. Do we have to focus on something, or.." In fact Gaines had a hundred questions left. "You do not have to do anything.." Jane placed her hand and Jacksons hand on the Millennium Ring, and at the same time she placed one finger on the forehead of Elias. "Say nothing.. Let me search.. all the ties that bind us." She closed her eyes.

The needles of the ring started to move.. "Huh.. this does not feel.." And after a few seconds it happened. "It's happening!" Nero saw that his arms began to glow. "Oh god. This had better work." It happened to all of them, Jackson, Colin, even the girls back in England. "Is it supposed to get this cold?" All six duelists and Elias were surrounded by a golden energy, just like before. "If this works. I wish you all the best of luck. We will take care of your bodies while you are gone!" Cable yelled after them, as their presence soon became masked by the light. However unlike last time, this process went a little further in its methods of relocating the soul. "Ack?!" As soon as the golden light had faded, their friends were nowhere to be seen. "Ehr.. what bodies?" Prospero, Madlyn and Cable were left behind. "This is.. like what Zakarias did to his victims.."

Indeed, Jane had done more than simply letting their souls walk into the next world. She had converted their entire being to a new plane. The experience was unusual to say the least. At first there was nothing but darkness and vague blobs of colors, akin to what people would see if they tried to look with shut eyes. It was only after what felt like hours, that they could distinguish shapes in the obscurity of their new environment. And it took even longer before other senses returned to them; but the smell left a bad taste in their mouth and the ominous humming did not put them at ease. Finally they could feel, as their feet touched some form of solid ground. "Guys... Will!" And at last they could see each other after a long period of separation. "Girls!" All seven duelists were reunited in the new and forbidding realm. "It worked! By god, it actually worked.." Colins skepticisms faded all at once. "I do not think we should invoke His name here." And William alone could identify the place in which they met each other again. "This is the place.." Now they saw the hell around them, they felt its terrifying and sickening skies, its cold and enervating winds. "I can barely feel anything.. it's so numbing." And it had only grown more twisted since Carter had left it behind.

What was one just a festering swamp surrounded by jagged mountains, now resembled a ruined patchwork of civilizations. "I do not believe this.." They stood on top of a large rock formation, and just to their left was a destroyed city filled with toppled skyscrapers and crashed planes. "How is this even real? I thought hell would be more.. ancient." Unfortunately they could only draw one conclusion from this. "The two worlds must really be merging." Just like Hieroglyph had said. "Yes, just look at that." Up above they saw a moon floating in between the bloodred clouds. Except that was no moon. "That close.." It was the planet Earth, closing in on this world. "All that is keeping them apart is the last few people awake, the last few shadows.." People like Cable, who were counting on them to stop Ka before it got that far. "But we are here now. Is everyone present?" They counted each other, all seven duelists were here. Jane was present as well. "So that's how you really look like." It was the first time they saw her original form. "Jackson was right when he said you looked like a female version of him." Nero smiled. "We are all, how we see ourselves." The others looked like their regular selves, even though here they were nothing but souls.

"But I was right. I could bring you all here, because we are all connected to Pharaoh." She felt a little satisfied with her own work. "We should start looking then." Jackson said. "But.." Elias looked around. "Where do we begin?" This place seemed endless, the horizon was an infinity away and there were no clear landmarks that were not already ruined. "Well that looks familiar." But Nero saw that one ruin was different from the others. In the distance was a triangular shape, smashed to pieces. "A pyramid?" In fact now they started to recognize more parts of this landscape, there were a twisted torn up road beneath them, and palm trees bathed in oil and blood. "Egypt.. You brought us to the Egyptians hell?" Cleo asked Jane. "Not hell.. the world of shadows. Bad spirits come here, not bad humans." Though even she did not know why it had the theme that it did. "She is close.." All she was sure of, was that. "How can you tell?" Elias suddenly felt less secure than he thought was possible down here. "She spoke with me before, she is speaking to me now. Ka speaks to all shadows.." Jane pointed at the pyramid. "I think.. there." She thought the voice came from that direction. "Then there we shall go. We shall see what challenges await.."

And Jane was right, the Magus was closer than they could even imagine. "Creator, how can we stand for this." And she knew, all of her remaining servants knew, who had entered their world. "They chase off the Iron Pillar, they slay the Lead and Copper Pillar. And you allow Hieroglyph to roam free at the same time. It is as if you have no grip on this at all." Archon and Fatimah stood by her side, as she watched the entire realm with her Millenium Eye. The silver knight was however not willing to keep his silence. **"Everything proceeds as I have foreseen it, Silver Pillar. The actions of the priests, and the actions of the Tin Pillar will not affect the path to perfection. The sacrifices will all be worth it." **Seneska said to him, but he was not convinced. "If you will not face them. I shall.." He turned away. **"Silver Pillar, I know whom you hate the most. Yet the Lord is no longer with them." **She held the Millennium Puzzle in her hands. **"If you leave now, you will not find the answers.." **He stopped, hesitating for a brief moment.

"I will find.. something." Still he flew away, leaving the lair. "Creator.." Fatimah turned to her master in his absence. **"You may witness his actions if you desire, Mercury Pillar. But do not intervene." **The eyeless woman bowed and left the room as well. "...." Now alone Seneska clenched the puzzle tighter and glared at it. **"Now then**.. brother. Are you still laughing at me?" She spoke to it as if it could speak back. But no words sounded. "You think you can counter the grand design in this state? You think, that this darkness is preferable to perfection?!" Angrily she tossed the puzzle at the wall. "You.. are **wrong!"**

(To be Continued in New Testament 088: Echoes of Reanimation)


	88. Echoes of Reanimation

**New Testament 088: Echoes of Reanimation**

"It must be strange, to return here.. After you tried to hard to get away.." Christine said to William. It was the firt time in a while that she and Cleo had seen him "Yes, yes it is. I wish we could have seen each other again under different circumstances." He had not been out for more than a day by his estimates. In fact he had not even gotten a chance to look at the blue sky. "But I am glad I saw you two again. At least this time I am not alone." Last time he was surrounded by fakes and fakers, which he would rather not talk about. "But we are sure that we can leave whenever we want, right?" Cleo looked at Jane, the one that had brought them here. "Yes. If you want to run, I will let you." She stated calmly. "Hey! I am not a coward, I just want to make sure you did not trap us here!" The goth snapped at her. "You think, I would lie?" She seemed to be saddened by her words. "Gggh. I did not mean that either.. I mean.. If Jackson trust you.." Which just made Caine more annoyed. She found it difficult to talk to her. "Just.. Never mind."

They were walking across the desert-like landscape, allthough in this world of shadows it had attained its own special touches. The sand was a colorless grey, rather than yellow or brown-ish. The few rivers present were dark red like rusted blood, so it was a good thing that they could not feel thirst or hunger in a place like this. And for a sun they had the world of man to look at, its pale reflected light barely illuminate the dreary setting. "I suppose we will not get tired quickly either." Colin for once felt like he could simply run all the way to the pyramid. "Let's not get hasty however. Who knows what waits for us here.." Nero had heard what William did say about the shadow world, demons and dark gods could ambush them at any turn. All of them just waiting for a chance to devour their souls. "We should probably prepare ourselves." Carter extended his hand and summoned a dueldisk to put on his wrist. He knew how it worked down here. "It should be easy.. just imagine it, and the cards you want to use. Your memories will do the rest."

So they went ahead and did that, conjuring up their monster/spell/trap arsenal. "If I can think of anything I want.." Colin closed his eyes, and a Chaos Emperor Dragon appeared in his hands. "Awesome!" He would definitely like a deck filled with broken cards. "Though.. what happens if our lifepoints run out in this place?" Christine looked at the meter on her disk, it read 8000 like they were used to. "I do not know. I was lucky enough to never find that out on my own." William did not expect it to be pleasant if their lifeforce was drained. "Well, with these weapons.. we can not possibly.." And then a familiar force, for some, washed over them. "Holy.." Wave after wave of energy coursed across the grey desert, forming circular patterns in the sand. "This is like Hieroglyphs power!?" They almost thought he had come. But instead a more knight-like entity had hovered down towards them. "Archon!" It was the silver pillar, the one who wore the face of Anima. "Priests of the Pharaoh... You are trespassing into our native realm.."

"Your native realm? I thought you were banished here?" While all were definitely caught off guard, Cleo was not about to let him get in the way. "You are not just in the realm of the Earthbound. We were born here, all shadowlife comes from this place and returns to this place." He glared at Jane for a second, who looked away quickly. "I see now, how you found your way back here. A curious thing, to come here willingly when we have tried to escape for centuries. But thanks to the grace of our creator, even this hell would seem like a better place to be." He took out his silver lamp and placed it on the ground. "Many attempts have been made, and you now mock all of these sacrifices." The candle inside the glass suddenly lit up, and basked the area in a pure white radiance. "It is enough to cause even anger in my soul! You children have interfered too many times now! Even if the Creator has asked of us to spare your lives, I can not obey. I shall exterminate you all here and now." He summoned a dueldisk from his armor. "And I have not forgotten what is my mission. I shall begin with you!" He pointed at Elias. "Me? But you wanted Raness.. He is no longer with me!"

"I do not care.. If through a fluke of fate he were to break free from his convinements, your body and soul must be destroyed." He was not about to let a technicality stop his mission. "But.. I never dueled.. on my won before." Elias had always counted on the Pharaoh's spirit to help him, to beat the enemy. "Then you will die a poor duelists death, but die you shall." He advanced on him. "Not so fast! He does not have to face you alone!" But Cleo stepped in his path. "What?" He scoffed at her. "If you want to crush him, you will have to take me on as well." She felt a small obligation to help him, not only as his first opponent, but also because she had just about enough of the Silver Pillar. "Do as you please, I will exterminate you all. No matter the sequence.." They all activated their dueldisks. "Cleo.. thanks." Elias sheepishly said before he followed her example. "Do not worry about it. We're all in the same boat here." She drew six cards, as she would start the game. "The rest of you stand back. Do not die before I do.."

Cleo's LP: 8000 Elias's LP: 8000 Archons LP: 8000

"Separate LP?" Nero noticed the rules for two-on-one had been altered. "And he did not double his lifeforce either. That does not seem to be possible here." In that case, what advantage did Archon have, for facing two duelists at the same time? "I set a monster and a trap card." They were about to find out as Cleo ended her turn. "My turn!" And Archon drew already. "Hey, is it not.." Elias though he was supposed to be next. "This is how we fight here." Apparently he would get a turn after hers _and_ his. "I summon Princess Alicia, whose effect special summons a Valkyrie from my deck.." The norse princess(1900/1800) appeared on the field, along with a new Valkyrie(1500/1700). "Alvitr, she will use Alicia for her own attack." As the Princess was a Union monster, she could be equipped to the blonde knight on her horse. "He can attack too!" Christine cried out as the Valkyrie rode towards Cleo, slashing down her set monster. "I saw that." It had killed a Mad Reloader(0/0), which allowed her to discard two cards and draw two new ones.

_Valkyrie Alvitr, 4/1500/1700 Light/Fairy  
__When this card attacks your opponent can not activate trap or spell cards until the end of the damage step._

Thanks to the effect of Alvitr, Cleo could not use her trap to stop his attack. "When a Valkyrie equipped with The Princess slays another spirit in battle, one card shall be added to my hand." He drew a card. "Now. Host of the Pharaoh, you may begin your turn." He ended without placing any traps or spells down. "O.. Okay." The student drew, his hands were shaking. _"Why am I affraid?" _He wondered that, because he had cards in his hand that could easily kill his monster. _"I can do this.. I have to do this.." _He summoned the Lightsworn Sorceress Lyla(1700/200). "Using that card already? What a waste.." Lyla could destroy spells or traps, so summoning her now seemed like a missed chance. "Shut up!" Cleo yelled. "Just attack him!" He nodded. "Go, Lyla.." The Sorceress casted a spell that blew up Alvitr. "Feh." Or so it seemed, but she rose from the smoke completely unharmed. "Gah, she sacrificed the equipped Alicia to save herself." Nevertheless he had caused him to lose a little lifeforce. But not enough to impress the enemy.

Archons LP: 7800

"Your turn.." During the endphase, 3 cards were discarded form his deck by the effect of his Lightsworn. "If this is all. Then I see how strong the Pharaoh really was." He drew again. "He did beat you." Colin remarked from the sidelines. "God beat me. Without it, you are nothing. And in here, I am everything! I activate Ride of the Valkyries!" Everyone gasped as he played 'that spell'. "I special summon all Valkyries in my hand!" He called out Hrist (2000/2000) and Reginleif(1400/1400). The latter allowed him to take back Alicia from the cemetery. "Come to me.." Alicia(1900/1800) was normal summoned again. "Oh no.." The battle phae began. "Hrist, claim his spirit in my name!" The blackhaired slayer swung her sword down. "Oh no she wont. I can use my trap now!" However it hit a scarecrow made of junk instead. "Scrapiron Scarecrow, it negates 1 attack per turn and resets itself." The dark-armored one was pushed back. "Do not worry, girl. I shall make sure you are the first soul to be purged..." Instead Alicia finished off Lyla.

Elias's LP: 7800

"Because unlike him, you do not even deserve to challenge me." Reginleif and Alvitr charged the goth and knocked her down. "Tsk, you smug bastard.." She brushed off the dust and got up. "Ha, but at least now all your monsters will go to your deck due to your spell card." She looked forward to attacking him next turn. "I must disappoint you.. Alica, combine with the three Valkyries!" However he then initiated a fusion summon. "What, he can do that?" And she layed her eyes upon the result, the tall knight of many colors: Harvarar the true Valkyrie(3500/3500). "So that's how he avoids the drawback of the spell." William grumbled. "Are you still expecting to make a difference, Cleo Caine?" He ended his turn. "..Perhaps." She said after she saw what her next card was. "Laugh this off. Advanced Ritual Art!" She played a ritual spell. "I discard the ritual materials from my deck, level 4 Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams and level 4 Trial of Nightmare, to summon this level 8 monster!" She took out the ritual monster card. "Dark Master Zorc!"

Cleo's LP: 5100

Sh had performed the ritual flawlessly, invoking the caped fiend ruler(2700/1500). "Haven't used this in a while..." She conjured up a dice. "If I destroy anything but a six, your fusion is toast." She tossed it, and the die landed on a five. "Yes!" So the demon placed his hand on the sand and unleashed a large destructive wave. "Dark Catastrophe!" It devouted Harvarar whole. "Hmph. You forget her special effects, girl. During your endphase she will be reborn!" Archon was not concerned, yet. "Oh yeah?" That changed when she played the Book of Life card. "With this magic, I revive an undead and remove a dead monster from play!" She used it to call out the Patrician of Darkness(2000/1400) that Mad Reloader had discarded, and Harvarar was removed from play. "Guess she wont pull a messiah after all, eh?" The battle phase began. "Direct attack!" Zorc and the noble vampire combined their dark energy into one beam that struck the knight in his face. "That felt nice." She was done. "..." Now parts of his helmet started to crack off. "Oho.."

Archons LP: 3100

The face of the enemy was clearly visible. "Cable was right.. he does look like Anima." This was the first time most of them saw this. "How.. how is this possible?" They still had no answer for that question. "You really wish to know? You want to comprehend the pathetic nature of that human?" The face they knew grew a nasty twisted grin. "Then I shall tell you. I shall say what will be taken into the grave with you." He placed his left hand on his face, as if he was trying to tear it off. "This identity, this name. I have had to bear it ever since that day.. You remember how I said we tried to escape into the human world before? Well I am a result of one such attempts." He laughed and pointed at Zorc all of the sudden. "You could call it a ritual. One that took place last decade. A horrible failure of a ritual; performed by a human who knew nothing of the darkness." An image flashed by them, they saw a man in robes surrounded by a dozen hostages. "A fool who wanted to summon demons to do his bidding.. naturally sacrifices were needed."

"Those people, died?" Elias gulped. "Not all. Only one survived. But the damage was done, a connection had been established between both worlds. And I was sent by Ka to take advantage of it. However the link was weak, I could only affect the souls of those involved for but an instant. But that was enough.." They saw another image, people lying in hospital beds. "There.." One of them was Anima. "Yes, his was the soul I chose. He alone endured the ritual. It erased his memories, and allowed him to use some of our powers. He could summon monsters outside of duels, he could merge with shadows. All for the price of his human name. Unfortunately unlike Glyph, he was too chaotic to be useful. He could sense too much without understanding what was going on. He even tried to stop the Memory World game before Seneska could be freed." They recalled how Cable had to stop Anima from attacking the slab at the museum. "He really did not know anything." Nero sighed. "No, he did not. He could hear the voice of Ka, but refused to listen. And then.. he died." The last image was that of Anima, drowning in the core room of Atlantis. "That was his sad life.. not even the creator knows where his consciousness and memories went.."

"But I am different. I was made for greater things. That failure of a ritual tied me to your pathetic mortality, but that ends now." He drew a card. "I shall exterminate you, so nobody will remember the name of Anima. Only Archon will exist!" He discarded two cards. "But before you go, I will show you the power beyond God. I discard Atrum Deus Chaos and Atrum Deus Ordo from my hand." Two spell cards appeared on the field, two golden rings. "This activates Orbis of Chaos and Orbis of Ordo!" They started to circle around Archon, as he began to float above the desert. "Now what?" Cleo had a bad feeling about this. "The steps towards the path of my Ka are made. The god I was given to slay the Pharaoh will instead end you." He placed one trap card facedown and ended his turn. "Only the immortal can claim victory in this world!"

_Atrum Deus Chaos, 5/2000/2000 Dark/Machine  
__This card is also treated as a fairy-type monster. As long as this card is on the field, you take no battle damage during your opponents turn.  
__If this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, special summon 1 'Lucis Deus Ordo' from hand, deck or graveyard to your field in face-up defense position.  
__You can send this card from your hand to the graveyard to place an 'Orbis of Chaos' from your deck or graveyard to the field in your spell/trap card zone. _

_Lucis Deus Ordo, 5/2000/2000 Dark/Machine  
__This card is also treated as a fairy-type monster. As long as this card is on the field all other machine type monsters on your side of the field gain 700 atk.  
__If this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, special summon 1 'Atrum Deus Chaos' from your hand, deck or graveyard to your field in face-up defense position.  
__You can send this card from your hand to the graveyard to place an 'Orbis of Ordo' from your deck or graveyard to the field in your spell/trap card zone. _

_Orbis of Chaos, Continuous Spell  
__Increase your life points by 500 during your standby phase.  
If 'Confuto Deus Zarathustra' is face-up on your side of the field, instead increase your life points by 1000 during your standby phase._

_Orbis of Ordo, Continuous Spell  
__Increase the attackpoints of all machine-type monsters by 500.  
If 'Confuto Deus Zarathustra' is face-up on your side of the field, increase the attackpoints by 800 and the defense points by 500._

(To be Continued in New Testament 089: For all and None)

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Mad Reloader  
Patrician of Darkness

**New Cards used by Archon/Anima  
**_Valkyrie Alvitr  
__Atrum Deus Chaos  
__Lucis Deus Ordo_

_-  
__Orbis of Chaos  
__Orbis of Ordo_


	89. For All and None

**New Testament 089: For all and None**

"The duel.." Fatimah landed on one of the sand hills, a few yards away from the ongoing match between Cleo, Elias and Archon. "Silver and.. " Nobody noticed her in all the chaos, but she would not act unless it was necessary. "I summon Ehren the Lightsworn Monk!" Now it was Elias's turn. "I do not know why you left yourself wide open, but I have to make this move.." The female monk(1600/1000) took her stance. "A direct strike!" She leaped towards Archon, floating above the sands. "Wodens Judgment!" However he had his ever-bothersome trap on his side, Wodens counter trap ended the battle phase before she could connect the blow. "You have learned nothing, host. You are just echoing the moves of the fallen Pharaoh." He exchanged one card on top of his deck with one card in his hand. "You will follow him.."

Archons LP: 3100 Elias's LP: 7800 Cleo's LP: 5100

"You.. you're wrong!" He placed two trap cards. "I did learn.." During the endphase he discarded three cards from his deck for Ehren, including an Outstanding Dog Marron "This card for instance, when it goes from the deck to the grave it will return to my deck." He shuffled the card back. "I see. You tried to compensate for the selfdesctructiveness of the Lightsworn playing style." Last time he faced that deck, Raness had nearly lost because of deck-out. "But that will not be enough, I intend to end your life before you run out of options." One of the golden rings started to glow. _"The Orbis of Chaos is healing him?"_

Archons LP: 3600

"Every standby phase, Ordo will increase my life by half a thousand." He then played a spell card. "Final Light: Now I shall pay a thousand to revive one spirit of the light." And he called out one of the monsters he had discarded last turn. "Lucis Deus Ordo.." It(2000/2000) had the appearance of a female angel with colorless hair and blue wings, and the armor looked almost cybernetic. "Her power is to strengthen all other creatures of metal by 500 points. And her Orbis empowers all machines the same way." Thus the second golden ring strengthened her. "Is that all?" Alone she did not look that intimidating. "Of course not. You think my Ka has such a limited form? No.. I shall show you." He grabbed the card Wodens Judgment had added to his hand. "My immortal self.. I activate the spell card: Also Spracht Zarathustra!" As he activated it, the two rings began to swirl around. "Gah, hold on!" They swept up the sands and created a storm, drawing in loose material from the distance. "I summon thee: Confuto Deus Zarathustra!"

Archons LP: 2600

_The Final Light, Normal Spell  
__Pay 1000 Life Points. Special summon 1 Light-Attribute monster from your Graveyard._

_Also Spracht Zarathustra, Normal Spell  
__You can only activate this card when you have 'Orbis of Chaos' and 'Orbis of Order' on your side of the field. The activation and effect of this card can not be negated.  
__This card's effect and activation can not be negated. Special summon 1 'Confuto Deus Zarathustra' from your hand, deck or graveyard._

Archon changed with the summoning, his armor was torn off and merged with the tempest. The man wearing Anima's face now just resembled a figure of energy, standing in a hovering sphere. "Behold, the power that vanquished Zevgar, the Ka that your world could not suffer, the eater of gods!" The gathered sand, silver and debris was forged into a new suit of armor, ten times the size of the previous one. Metallic crests adorned the faceless helmet, spikes covered the gauntlets, steel-bladed feathers formed two large wings behind his back, and a large tail chained it to the desert. "My Divine spirit!" This was Zarathustra(3500/3000), a godlike armor for Anima whose energy lied in its abdomen.. "Its power shall grow, thanks to Ordo and her Orbis. And its presence strengthens their abilities and status as well." The sum of all improved boosts added a lot to the god(5000/3500) and its assistant(3500/2500). "Holy hell.." And he had not even attacked with it yet. "Now disappear from my sight, Cleo Caine.." The two dark machines flew towards her. Specifically her ritual monster. "Scrapiron Scarecrow!" She tried to stop him with her trap, but Zarathustra phased right through it. "No!" And decapitated Zorc with a single stroke. "Argh." She could only stop Lucis with it. "You ignorant girl. Gods do not fall to the tricks of mortals. Deus is immune.."

Cleo's LP: 2800

_Confuto Deus Zarathustra, 10/3500/3000 Divine/Machine  
__This card can not be normal summoned or set, this card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Also spracht Zarathustra'.  
__When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you can destroy 1 'Atrum Deus Chaos' or 'Lucis Deus Ordo' on your field to special summon this card back to the field.  
__As long as this card is on the field all other machine-type monsters on your side of the field gain 700 atk. This card is unaffected by your opponents card effects._

"If you still have eyes, you can see that I am not dead yet." She spat. "And it is my turn!" She drew a card. _"Heh.. this one." _Which she decided to summon. "I call out Nitro Synchron!" It was the nitrous oxide tank tuner(300/100). "A tuner? Since when did you use those?" Some like Colin had not seen her use Synchros before. "Way before you did. Now watch this.. I tune it with Patrician of Darkness!" The level 2 machine was combined with the level 5 vampire to form the level 7 Nitro Warrior(2800/1800). "What does it do then?" Nero saw that it was not strong enough on its own. "If I activate a spell this turn, I can add a thousand points to his attackpower.. And lookie here.." Thanks to Nitro Synchrons effect, she could also draw 1 card from her deck. "I got one. I play Spiritualism, to send 1 spell or trap on the field back to a players hand!" She used it on one of the two golden rings. "Away with order!" With it gone, both machines lost power (Zarathustra: 4300/3000, Lucis: 2800/2000) while Nitro Warrior(3800/1800) gained it. "Here I come!" The synchro released a blast of green flames to consume the cyber-angel. It shrieked in metallic tones before it burned away. "What the hell?" Yet from those ashes, another angel appeared. "Atrum Deus Chaos.."

Archons LP: 1600

"This is the eternal cycle, Cleo Caine. Order follows Chaos, Chaos follows Order." When Lucis died, a black-winged white-haired angel took her place(2800/2000), his energy flew through the core of Zarathrusta and appeared on his left side. "Damn it." But he was summoned in defense mode, so she could attack it with Nitro Warriors second effect. "I switch him to attack mode and strike!" The fiery one punched through the chest of Chaos. "You did not listen." And as it died, Lucis(2800/2000) returned to Archons right side, returning the boost of 800 points to the god. "I do not care. As long as I get to do damage.." Even if it was little to nothing. "Hey!" Or nothing in this case. "Fool. As long as Chaos is in place, I can not lose lifeforce.." She could no nothing else this turn. "Short.." He could draw again already, and the Orbis of Chaos healed him. "Not short enough..." He activated the spell card Nobleman of Extermination. "Oh no!" It removed her facedown Scarecrow trap from play. "Now even the lesser angel can land a hit."

Archons LP: 2600

Archon reactivated the Orbis of Ordo and entered his battle phase. "Cleo. I can protect you." Elias said, pointing at Ehren. "She can intercept a direct attack." He explained. But she shook her head. "No. I have my own plan. But thanks." Confutato Deus(5000/3500) raised one arm into the sky. "So you choose a glorious death" Lightning was channeled into its silver hand. "Thunder!" And it crashed down, instantly atomizing Nitro Warrior. "Ghaaah!!!" And while she was electrocuted, Lucis(3500/2500) flew towards her to finish it off. "Cleo!" But she discarded a Kuriboh from her hand. "You wish. I negate the damage with this!" The fuzzball fiend took the blow intended for her. "Feh." Archon ended his turn right afterwards. "Cleo.. are you alright?" Smoke was coming from the goth, that could not be a good sign. "Yes.. Yes I am. Now go get him." She smiled. "What?" Because she had seen one card in his hand that he had overlooked. "Oh, I get it!" He summoned the Lightsworn Garoth(1850/1300). "I attack Zarathustra and activate Honest!"

Cleo's LP: 600

"Honest?!" He discarded the monster that added an enemy's power to a spirit of light, Zarathustra's power was added to Garoth(6850/1300). "!!!!" The warriors axe grew in size, as it cut into the silver armor of the god. "Wait.." However the swing did not go all the way through. "The final power of Confutato. To use it this early.." And Lucis exploded into raw energy that flew through the center of the divine machine. "He sacrificed her?" And as a consequence, Chaos(2800/2000) reappeared. "I can destroy one Deus-class spirit, to keep my god alive. It feeds off the cycle.." Lucis and Chaos would keep reviving each other, in an infinity pattern. "In that case. Ehren!" But there was one weak point. "You saw it?" And Archon was shocked to see it taken advantage of. "Ehren can send defensive monsters back into a players deck, regardless of the damage steps!" The monk kicked Chaos, and it was forced away. "He broke the loop!" Christine gasped. "Host.. you only forced me to reveal _my_ power." The deck in his hand started to glow just like him.

Archons LP: 750

"His power?" They realized they had not seen that one yet. "Zarathustra is my god, but also my inner spirit. In worlds like these I can give it form, but in any game I can use its skill of Illumination. I can will any Light-creature I want to the top of my deck." Now they could guess why his Valkyrie combos were always so flawlessly executed. "I was worried it was something like that. So I prepared this!" But Elias flipped a continuous trap. "Light Spiral: Every time a Lightsworn discards card, the top card of your deck will be removed from play!" And since Ehren was about to discard 3, if he had placed Lucis back on top, the Spiral would hit it. "You predicted it?" Ehren discarded three cards, two of which were Lightsworn so Garoth gave Elias two new cards. One of two was a Wulf beast was discarded, so he(2100/300) was summoned as well. "It worked!" And the Spiral removed Chaos from play. "..you really got good at this game." Even Cleo was impressed. "... Fools, all of you." Yet as soon as Archon began his turn and he regained 1000 LP, he activated Celestial Transformation. "Where did.." The spell summoned another Atrum Chaos at half his power, though he still gained the powerboosts (2500/2000). "He put two on top of his deck!?"

Archons LP: 1750

"Of course. My power extends that far. I can even decide to not draw a light monster during my next turn. But enough stories!" Confutato(4300/3500) collected more lightning in its hand. "If you attack Cleo, I will defend her!" She probably had no Kuribohs to spare, and Chaos as well as . "As if I intend to overlook the host for that long!" Ehren and Garoth moved in front of the girl. "Vanish!" The bolt of heavenly thunder incinerated Garoth, while Ehren was cut down by the Atrum angel. "So selfrighteous. Just like the one you play host too." The student felt the shcoking pain as well, but he retained more life than Cleo did. "You two deserve each other after all." During the endphase, Celestial Transformation would destroy the card it had brought forward. But that just allowed the first Lucis(3500/2500) to be revived, and the god(5000/3500) to reach full power. "I liked you better when you did not talk much." Cleo entered her turn. And she did not want Elias to defend him the rest of the duel, so she placed a monster and a trap facedown.

Elias's LP: 3750

"You are still here.. yet you contribute nothing." Now that she had monsters in place, Gaines could not defend her. "I thought you wanted to kill us all, why give only Elias your attention.." She ended her turn. "You are but a spec of dust, Cleo Caine. You fell into the grace of gods by a mere accident." He placed a trap card. "An accident? Like the one where you gained the face of a mortal?" She grinned. "Be silent!" Lucis sent a holy wave to smash her facedown monster. "Sorry. Not yet." But it was a Pyramid Turtle(1200/1400), who in death called out a second Turtle in defense mode. "Accursed undeath.." The machine god extended its hand and impaled the second Turtle with its armspike. "Trap card: Grave of Enkindling! We each special summon one monster from the grave in defense mode!" At the same that the second turtle called out a Mezuki zombie(1700/800), she used this card. "In that case.." Elias revived the Lightsworn Aurkus(1200/1800), Cleo chose Dark Master Zorc(2700/1500) and Archon called Valkyrie Hrist (2000/2000).

Archons LP: 2750

"What is your game here, putting up walls until you bore me to death?" Archon finished his turn. "Well, suppose you do beat us. Then what? Did you even think about what happens once your mission is done?" If he beat Elias, he technically had fulfilled all his orders. "It does not end there. It ends when all of you are gone.. I have a task to protect the Creator!" He sounded mad, so Cleo felt like continuing. "Is that so? Sounds to me like you're just ticked off that someone else already beat Raness. It is him you want to duel, isn't it? Only him do you consider worthy.." He was silent, but that told her enough. "I get you now. I was wondering before, why everyone else had a Millennium Item except you. Zakarias has a key, the twins had the scales. But you.. get nothing. You were supposed to get the Puzzle, weren't you? Instead the only Item you ever won was given to someone else. And that someone also defeated Raness before your precious Deus could." If the enemy still had an eye they could see, it would have twitched. "ENOUGH!"

"Host, continue this duel! Do not waste my time with chatter!" Elias looked at his hand. "I do not intend to.." He took one card from his hand. "There are enough sacrifices on the field." They had four monsters by now. "Sacrifices? Nothing you can summon that way is a match for Zarathustra! And.. you are insane if you think.." Archon began to understand what he was planning to summon. "In this world, what I imagine. Becomes my card, right?" He looked at William, who nodded. "Then I summon this!" He showed the silver pillar his god card: Osiris the Saint Dragon. "That one!? HA! You can not call upon him, you lack the right! God only answers to the royal family!" He laughed out loud. "I will not get anywhere, by just fearing the words. It is time to put it to a test." He tributed Wulf, Aurkus and Cleo's Mezuki. "No way.." And everyone stared with their mouths wide open, as something was taking shape. "This is the second god!?" The red dragon(4000/4000) was summoned succesfully after all. "Impossible!" God had heard the call of Elias.

(To be Continued in New Testament 090: Guardando nel Buio)

**New Card used by Cleo Caine  
**Grave of Enkindling

**New Cards used by Elias Gaines  
**Oustanding Dog Marron

-  
Light Spiral

**New Cards used by Archon/Anima  
**_Confuto Deus Zarathustra_

-  
_The Final Light (+)  
__Also Spracht Zarathustra  
_Nobleman of Extermination  
Celestial Transformation  
_(+) Based on the spell used by Ziegfried in YGO KC Grand Prix_


	90. Guardando nel Buio

**New Testament 090: Guardando Nel Buio**

Its coming shook the entire desert, the divine could be sensed from miles away. "It can not be." Even Seneska, from her hidden throne room, could sense the energy that clashed with the natural darkness of this world. _"He summoned it! How did he.."_ She glanced at the Millennium Puzzle still lying on her floor. _"..Raness could not have escaped. Then it was.." _She closed her eye. "The vessel.." Fatimah saw it as well, Elias Gained had summoned Osiris the God of the Heavens. "This is amazing!" The duelists had seen it before, but they had not expected to see it again.. and in the control of the student. "The red dragon. How.. why did it hear you? The darkness rules the skies. If even the sun can not reach the earth, how can this god find it?" Archon was horrified by this 'miracle'. "Who knows. I just wished for this card to be in my deck. I drew it, so I summoned it." Though he had to admit, he himself had never seen Osiris in person. Not until now. "I had a memory of god. I suppose this really proves I am a part of his bloodline.."

Cleo's LP: 600 Elias's LP: 3750 Archons LP: 2750

"Even so! You expended too much, the power of Osiris is dependant on how many cards are in your hand!" Elias had only four cards. "You were a fool to summon it now." Osiris(4000/4000) was inferior to Archons god armor, Confutato Deus Zarathustra(4300/3500). "We will see.. Osiris, attack Atrum Deus Chaos!" The dragon opened one mouth. "Thunder Force!" A beam of divine energy ripped through the blackwinged angel(3500/2500). Due to Chaos's effect, Archon lost no lifepoints. "You can not break the infinite cycle with sheer power!" Of course that revived Lucis Deus Ordo(3500/2500) from the graveyard. "You did see Osiris before, didnt you?" But now the god opened its other mouth. "When a monster is summoned, it loses 2000 attack or defense points?" Cleo remembered that effect well. "Summon Lightning Shot!" A bolt shot towards the angel of order, reducing her defensive stats (Lucis: 3500/500). "Damn. If it had not been boosted, that attack would have killed her." Still Will knew this effect would keep the Deus angels in check.

"Then I activate Glorious Illusion! I revive one Lightsworn in my cemetery." The glorious trap called out a fairy in white robes(400/1400). "The Spirit Shire, who gains 300 attackpoints for each unique Lightsworn in my cemetery!" There were seven, so she(2500/1400) powered up quite a bit. "I strike down Valkyrie Hrist!" Shire pointed her staff at the Valkyrie revived by Cleo's trap, and fired a spell of light that blew her to pieces. "And now what, host? You changed nothing, you can not even weaken Lucis of Atrum because they are always summoned in defense mode." Archon was not as worried-sounding as before. "I.. do this." He placed three trap cards facedown. "What?" Because his hand lost three cards, Osiris(1000/1000) had less to draw strength from. "Dude, are you trying to kill yourself?" Colin did not see the wisdom in that. "He must have a plan." At least Nero hoped so. "Your turn." Elias discarded two cards for Shire and two for Glorious Illusion. "If you wish.." But when the enemy drew, Elias used one of his traps. "Thunder of Ruler: With this I seal your battle phase this turn!" Thunder shot down from the black skies, keeping Zarathustra on its side of the field. "I guess its my turn then?" The goth smirked at her silent enemy.

Archons LP: 3750

"Unless Archon can make another play." Which he could not, so Caine was indeed able to make her move. "And good thing I still have this." Zorc(2700/1500) had been revived earlier, now she could reuse his effect. "Roll the die!" She tossed her dice again, and she was happy to see it land on a five. "Nice! Now all your monsters will just die!" Zorc opened a hole in its chest and fired a barrage of hellflames towards Archon. "You never learn, Cleo Caine! Zarathustra is above mortal effects!" The fire could only consume the lesser machine angel. "And now be reborn, Chaos!" The silver pillar was about to call out her counterpart. "I reject that revival, Archon! Counter Trap: Vanquishing Light!" But Elias sacrificed Shire. "What!!!" And for that cost, his trap could negate the summoning of Atrum Deus. "The loop can't exist if one never hits the field.."

"And there is more! I also use the trap Fairy Wind." Elias flipped his third card. "All face-up spell and trap cards will be destroyed! Then you and me take damage for each destroyed card!" A gentle wind swept over the desert, Orbis of Ordo and Orbis of Chaos disappeared in the storm. "Whoa, when did he get that good at the game?" The others were quite impressed that he did this well without the Pharaoh. "We both take 600 damage." And as a bonus, the dark machines were no longer powered by the rings. (Lucis: 2700/2000, Zarathustra: 4200/3000). "Good thing you did not hit me with that." Cleo would not have survived even that little damage. "But I am also not done yet, I use Mezuki's effect." She removed the zombie in her grave from play to special summon another. "Come, Patrician of Darkness(2000/1400)." The vampire returned. "Then I activate the spell card Nitro Unit, and I keep both my monsters in defense mode." Now it was Archons turn. "You.. you think you can do this to me? You think that, host!? You think we are equals?!!!"

Elias's LP: 3150 Archons LP: 3150

"It all ends; Ring of the Nibelungen!" He activated the accursed ring, equipping it to Osiris. "That spell will seal his effects!" The ring strangled the dragons neck, keeping both its mouths shut as well (Osiris: 0/0). "Then if he attacks him now, he will lose all his lifepoints!" Osiris was helplessly stuck in attack mode. "What were you thinking, Elias? Using god that way, neglecting its powers. But I guess in the end it did not matter. But I am not through yet!" A second spell was activated. "The Rings Resonate! If you have another attackboosting card in your hand, using it now shall only be the death of you and Cleo!" The damage this spell could cause depended on a monsters attackpoints. So if he used a card like Honest, both he and Cleo would lose 3500 lifepoints. _"It.. it ends this way?" _Zarathustra(3500/3000) raised his hand into the sky, gathering his own type of lightning. "My god exceeds yours, Deus is the eater of gods!" The bolt was swung down. "I use the effect of Patrician of Darkness." Cleo shouted. "His effect?.. No, Cleo!"

_The Rings Resonate, Quickplay Spell  
__You can only activate this card if 'Confuto Deus Zarathustra' is face-up on your side of the field.  
__During this turn, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of any monsters your opponent controls that are destroyed by battle._

"Patrician of Darkness; as long as it exists, I can decide which monster gets attacked.." Cleo explained the effect. "And I choose the Patrician itself." The lightning changed directions, magnetically drawn towards the vampire. "But, you will still lose 2000 lifepoints!" Christine tried to warn her, she would die if that happened. "Don't you think I know that.. This is the only way Rose.. As much as I hate to say it, Elias has a better chance of defeating that guy than I do." The attack crashed down upon her monster, sending its atoms across the desert. ".. but what will happen to you?" They had never thought about it, they did not want to think about it. "I guess I am about to find out." She smirked and then the remaining electricity zapped her and Elias. "Gaaaahhh!!!!" Though they both experienced excrusiating pain, she lost all her lifeforce while Gaines sitll had some to spare. "Go.. get him.." She coughed out before exhaustion claimed her and she fell down. "Cleo!!" The others ran to her. "This changes nothing. One down, one to go." Archon rasped.

Elias's LP: 1150 Cleo's LP: 0

While everyone else stood around Caine, Elias focused on Archon. "..." Thanks to the Ring of Nibelungen he could draw two cards. "No monster cards." He drew a spell and trap, the curse could not claim either, and the power of Osiris went up(3000/3000). "Hmph. I see magic can only last for one turn on god." The dragon could move its mouths again. "Yet you lack the one card you need to win now, if only you had a fourth.." His god was still the strongest, but not for long. "Pot of Avarice." Elias returned five Lightsworns into his deck to draw two new cards. "That card?" Thus the Saint Dragon gained another boost, becoming superior(4000/4000) to Confutato. "Then I shall defend myself! Trap card: Miraculous Descent!" From his removed from game pile came the angel Light Spiral had banished: Atrum Deus Chaos(2700/2000)."You ended nothing, your mortal hands can not break chaos and order!" Osiris weakened it with a shot of its lightning mouth, but that was not enough(700/2000). "You can not inflict battle damage with Chaos alive, you can not kill Zarathustra either! You can not win!" He laughed maniacally. "Yes I can.. did you not notice what spell Cleo used?" He pointed at the Nitro Unit spell card, equipped to Zarathustra's chest plate. "!!!!"

"That is right. That is Cleo's last testament. You said she would never lay a hand on god, but she did. And now.." Osiris raised its head far above Archon. "I will complete her sacrifice! THUNDER FORCE!!" A deafening blast of holy thunder was unleashed, it pierced right through the energy sphere at the machine's center. "Hhgk!" At the same Nitro Unit was set off. When it exploded, it would inflict damage to the monsters controller equal to the attackpoints of the dying card. 3500 damage was given to Archon. "No. You wretched vessel.. you.. you defeated me.." As the remaining energy tore a hole in the desert behind Zarathustra, parts of its silver body and wings already began to fall off. "The eater of gods, the immortal Ka of light. Why did it lose!" Soon all that was left was the figure wearing Anima's face, stripped of his divine armor. And he too began to disappear, succombing to his depleted lifeforce. "I was born, to destroy the Pharaoh. Why was I not granted that right, why Creator!" Though Seneska was nowhere in the area, he had diverted his anger to her. "You gave my strength and everlasting life for that one goal, and then you render it all meaningless. I can not.. I can..not..." He clenched his chest. "I can not feel it.. anymore.." Even in the orld of shadows, a pillar could not live without lifeforce. Even the immortal souls could fade.. away...

Archons LP: 0

"Cleo!" And when he was gone from sight, he could only think about her. "Is she allright, is she going to make it?" He rushed over to the group, but saw the same distressing sight. "No.." Her body was fading away, like ash in the wind. "This is all my fault.. I should have faced him alone." He dropped to his knees. "No, do not think like that. He would have come after us anyway." William said to him. "And you might not have won if not for her." He had said so himself. "Y-yeah. Don't forget to th-thank me.. once.. this is all done." Cleo could still speak despite her state. "I am still sorry, Cleo. I should not have.. I could have.." If Raness had been here, this could have been prevented, that was what he believed. "Do not worry about.. that now.. I have no regrets.." She looked up at the sky and smiled. "I do not know.. what is going to happen now.. or where I will go. But don't you dare stop now. Or I will.. make sure to haunt you all." The goth let out a weak laugh. "Cleo?" Before the rest of her crumbled, slipping between their fingers. "Cleo!!" She was gone, just like that.

"No.."

"... Jane." Jackson turned to his shadow, who had watched it all from a distance. "Can you tell us what happened to her, can you sense her soul anywhere?" She took a while to react, but her answer was not pleasant either way. "I can not. Her soul, her spirit, her heart.. even her shadow.. nothing is here." She could only make one guess. "She is dead.." Christine flinched. "No.. it can not be. Not her.." They could not believe it, not after all they had been through. "Did you know? Did you know that this could happen to us here?" As a shadow, Colin found it easy to blame her for holding back things she might know about their world. "Colin it is not like that. She did not come from here, remember?" Jackson tried to calm him down. "Well what do we do then, how are we going to save her now? Who knows where she is!" If her soul was not here, she could in heaven or hell as far as they knew. "Or gone.. entirely.." If Ananka had come with them, she might have been able to check. But it appeared the true dead could not live here..

"Hey, where are you going! I was asking you.." But while they could not stop thinking about her, Jane walked away. "Shut up." She said without even looking at Sairve. "Wh-what?" The girl picked up the silver lamp Archon had left behind. "Oh.." Christine remembered something. "Hieroglyph.. he said that those anti-items would show us the way to wherever Seneska was hiding." And Jane could get a reaction from the lamp. "Normally one other Pillar would pop up by now, trying to take it away or even smash it before we can use it." But that was not likely, due to the simple fact that Osiris was still around. "Not even god could save Cleo.. but I will make sure this never happens again!" And that was true enough, Fatimah had not come to reclaim the item due to the presence of the Heaven god. Though she could have engaged in a duel with Elias, she withdrew because at the last second Seneska had spoken to her, mentally. **"Let them, Mercury Pillar. Let them find the source. They are too late to change the fate of the world now.."**

And then Jane figured it out. "It is there.." She touched the candle inside the lamp, which turned the pale flame into a bright red one. "The pyramid!" It shone a light like a lighthouse, powerful and long. And it revealed something above the one pyramid in the colorless wasteland. "So.. that is where she is." After a while they could all see it, the true shape of her lair; an inverted black pyramid hovering above the original one. "That must be the focal point of both dimensions. The source of shadows.. If we destroy it." Elias clenched his fist. "We can end this insanity." Osiris let out a loud roar. "Let's do this! For Cleo and everyone else that has suffered at the hands of Seneska!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 091: Reap-Rise)

**New Card used by Cleo Caine  
**Nitro Unit

**New Cards used by Elias Gaines  
**Shire, Lightsworn Spirit

-  
Thunder of Ruler  
Fairy Wind

**New Cards used by Archon/Anima  
**_The Rings Resonate_

_-  
_Miraculous Descent


	91. ReapRise

**New Testament 091:**** Reap-Rise**

"Nothing left in this section either.." Zakarias said to himself, while flying over a large city. "No souls awake, no shadows on the run, no ka spirits.. I can not sense a single thing." After his tactical retreat he had continued his tasks in other parts of the world, only to find few targets remained. "It is as if someone else beat me to it.. but who could.." Just then however he experienced a feeling of dread, one that was too tangible to be mere paranoia. "Something is transpiring in the realm of darkness, there are entities trespassing into our world!" And just like that he flew upwards and headed into the dark void above him.

And that world was not as dark or lifeless anymore, not since the god of heaven had heard Elias's calls and ascended into the shadows. "Go!" It flew straight for the black pyramid floating above. "We will end this all now!" The duelists would not let Cleo's disappearance go unanswered, they followed the red dragon as it launched a blast at the structure. "Thunder Force!" One explosion was enough to open a hole in the side. "Alright, here we come!" Though they did not know how they could get up there, they at least had an entrance. "Huh?" But before more cheering could be done, they were attacked. "Look out!" Chains busted out of the sand, snatching the legs and arms of Colin, Nero and Elias. "Gah!" The others managed to evade them, but soon saw who was responsible. "You have some nerve.. inferior beings.." Zakarias growled.

He appeared behind Elias Gaines. "You actually managed to get in here, you managed to defeat Archon, you even summoned god to attack our sanctuary.." With Elias trapped, he could simply take the silver lamp from his hand. "I can not believe even you failed, Archon." And he crushed it with his own hand. "No!" The black pyramid faded away before their eyes, without the anti-item they could not see it. "You kill your own companion? Grr.. Osiris!" Elias wanted his god card to attack the enemy. But Osiris did not move or even turn around. "Fool. A true duelist knows that his spirit can not move.." He summoned a scythe to his hand. ".. if his master himself is in mortal peril." He pressed the blade against his neck. "Wh-what?" And with his free hand, Zakarias took his dueldisk. "You are not worthy.." He tossed it into the sand and smashed it with his foot. "NO!" With it gone, the god spirit lost its source of energy and it too vanished. "You will all die here, before you can even see inside the hallowed home of our creator!" He moved the blade closer..

"Not so fast!" But a blast struck the back of Zakarias. "gah!" Which made him lose his grip on the weapon. "Who dares!" He turned around and saw William Carter of all people, with a materialized Stardust Dragon behind him. "Will?" His friends did not recognize the dragon, neither did the Iron Pillar. "If you want to kill us, you can start with the one you killed before." He took out his dueldisk. "Me? Fight you? What makes you think I will even consider it?!" Zakarias smirked, though he did walk away from his previous target. "Consider that we are the supposed priests of Raness, and that even Archon had to duel us. I assume you can not take our souls if they issue an official challenge first." He was almost certain of that now. "So very confident.. but I already crushed you once with Paradius. I shall do so again!" A dueldisk slithered out of his arm, and the vague shape of a spirit appeared behind him. "And do not even think you can use your rules to escape his power here. In the world of shadows, a deck can hold as many cards as possible!"

Williams LP: 8000 Zakarias's LP: 8000

Paradius, the reaper Ka, sent the five pieces of his body into Williams deck. "I was not even aware of such a major flaw in your strategy." Cable had not had the chance to tell them that. "But I do not fear your cards anymore.. Zakarias." He said, though his opening hand was not helping his statement. "Ugh." The Southern Claw of the Unredeemed One, the first part, was already in his hand. "Come again?" One leg was chained down to the ground. "Oh no.." But Will would not let this bad news get to him. "I activate Emergency Cyber, and add one 'Cyber'-monster from my deck to my hand." He added a Cyber Larva monster. "I summon it and then place one trap card down." The rather tiny machine dragon(400/600) was his only defense, but it had an effect to make up for it. "If you attack it, I wont take battle damage that whole turn.."

_Emergency Cyber, Normal Spell  
__Add 1 monster with "Cyber" in its name from your deck to your hand. Once per turn by discarding 1 card, you may return this card to your hand from the Graveyard._

"I see. No damage at all.. but then you should know.. That is now how I fight." He summoned a small soldier(900/900), carrying three swords on his back. "Triad Blader. This monster can attack three times a turn!" The warrior took out one blade and used it to cleave the Larva in half. "Then you activate the second effect of the Larva! When it dies another will replace it!" A second appeared. "Heh, I do not mind." The Blader used his second weapon to cut it down, which summoned a third. "Incidentally." The last Larva was finished off by his monsters third strike. "Each time this monster attacks, you draw a card." He chuckled as three more cards appeared in Wills hand. "What the.." Including two more Paradius parts; the claws that wrapped around his wrists. "It is almost over now.." He placed two trap cards down. "Your powers.. are stronger in this world?" Jackson asked the enemy. "Well spotted, ex-symbolist. Yes. In this realm, I can manipulate the deck better. Now all five Paradius parts hide in the top of the deck at all times." He ended his turn.

_Triad Blader, 3/900/900 Light/Warrior  
__This monster can attack three times during the same battle phase. When this card attacks your opponent draws 1 card._

Every draw was dangerous. Fortunately Carter drew a card to complete a combo instead. "I discard a card from my hand to reclaim Emergency Cyber." He added and played the spell. "I add Cyber Dragon to my hand! And since I control no monsters while you do, I can special summon it!" The cyber snake(2100/1600) appeared. "I also activate my trap card: Rollout, equipping Armored Cybern in my grave to the Cyber Dragon." That was the card he had discarded for Emergency Cyber. "I unequip it.." The cybern became its own monster(0/2000). "Then I normal summon the Chaos End Master(1500/1000) and tune it with my dragon!" He combined the level 3 tuner with the level 5 machine. "Come out, Stardust Dragon!" And he gave a solid shape to the silvery white dragon(2500/2000). "So that is its name.. Good." Zakarias smiled and flipped his trap. "Now I can call it my own! Tuners Scheme: I take control of a summoned Synchro!" A wave washed over Stardust, forcing him to fly towards the opponent.

"You had that card prepared just for me?" Or for human duelists who depended too much on Synchros in general. "In that case, I special summon Trap Eater!" A wide-mouthed demon appeared, devouring Tuners Scheme. "What?" With the trap gone, Stardust returned to his proper master. "This tuner can be summoned by sacrificing a trap on your field. And now.." He performed another synchro summon, the level 4 demon tuned with the level 4 Cybern. "Red Dragon Archfiend!" Out came the crimson dragon of demons(3000/2500). "Wh-when did you get these cards?" The others had never seen anything like it, not even Jackson. "When he sent me to hell." Was his answer. "Now taste this." Stardust gathered bright energy and blasted it towards Triad Blader. "Slip Summon!" But Zakarias had one more trap up his sleeves. "With this I summon a lowlevel monster from my hand in defense mode; Triad Shielder!" A warrior holding three shields(0/1800) appeared, and one he used to deflect the attack. "Three times a turn, it will stop death itself!"

Zakarias's LP: 6400

_Triad Shielder, 3/0/1800 Light/Warrior  
__When this card is attacked, your opponent draws 1 card  
__Up to three times per turn, if a monster card you control would be destroyed by battle while this card is face-up on the field, it is not destroyed._

"Then let me show you their powers!" Red Dragon Archfiend was up next. "Draco Meteor!" His fist slammed into the defending monsters second shield. "Useless, useless." However the blow was strong enough to crack both shields. "Eh?" And it itself was consumed by hellish flames. "When the Archfiend strikes a defending monster, all defenders will die regardless of effects.." This death the Triad warrior could not negate. "I set a trap card and my turn." Zakarias no longer smiled. "But you still drew a card when you attacked him." And it was not a claw. "Tsk. I sacrifice Triad Blader!" The swordsman was replaced by a golden armoured warrior(2400/1000). "Kuraz, the Light Monarch! When summoned he will destroy two cards on the field!" The Monarch sent a hail of light towards the two Synchro dragons. "Then I can use my others ability: Victim Sanctuary!" But Stardust moved to intercept it, converting himself to raw energy. "I sacrifice Stardust to negate an effect which destroys cards, and destroy the sender!" Kuraz instead was blown to pieces.

"You.." Zakarias placed another two trap cards down and ended his turn. "During the endphase, Stardust will return to my field." Stardust rejoined his comrade, but their reunion would be shortlived. "Dioscure was right after all, you really do like those spirits way too much." He flipped a trap, Synchro Ejection. "But all they will bring you is pain! This trap removes 1 synchro from play, and forces the player to draw a card!" Stardust could not negate that kind of effect, and it was banished to another dimension. "Ghk." And the card Carter drew was the Head of Paradius. One piece remained. "I shall destroy you before it comes to that!" Red Dragon Archfiend attacked directly, hitting Zakarias with his flaming fist. "Hrgh.. you can only fail. Trap card: Damage Gate." A portal appeared where Red Dragons fist used to be. "I revive a monster with less attack than the damage I just took; I choose Kuraz." The light Monarch(2400/1000) returned. "Without Stardust, you can not stop his effect, and you will draw each time a card is destroyed!"

Zakarias's LP: 3400

He targeted Carters trap and the Archfiend. "Trap card: Remote Revenge!" But that trap was activated. "I discard one card from my hand to redirect the effect of Kuraz.. towards himself!" The golden light bounced off of the synchro and once again his Monarch killed itself. William then placed a monster facedown and finished his turn. "Tsk. Why are you doing better than last time." At least Zakarias could draw a card. "In here I should be even stronger!" His turn started and he summoned a new monster, a shooter with a three-barrelled shotgun(300/1500). "Triad Gunner, the damage this card inflicts is tripled! And it can attack directly..while you draw a card!" The gunner took aim. "It might be.. what you need to die!" And the bullet was fired. "No, not while my brothers spirits are with me!" He discarded a monster from his hand. "Battlefader(0/0)! By summoning this when you attack directly, I end the battle phase!" The bullet turned to dust before the clock pendulum fiend(0/0). "Your brothers spirit? The only thing down there with you was a fake."

_Triad Gunner, 3/300/1500 Light/Warrior  
__When this card attacks or is attacked, your opponent draws 1 card.  
__This card can attack the opponent directly. Battle damage taken by your opponent from this cards attack is tripled._

"I remember. But that does not make the feelings fake as well. The cards I gave him were true gifts to my brother, I thought suited him. He always liked fiends more than angels. The very reason my tournament deck was made of both light and dark was because he himself could never join those tournaments. His work always kept him busy.." Zakarias placed a trap and ended his turn. "What is your point?" William started his turn. "That not everything you did to me, the anchoring, the charades, that was not all for the worst. Nevertheless, what you did can not be forgiven.." He drew a card. "!" And to the relief of his friends, it was not the last claw. _"Then it must be the next card."_ Zakarias thought. But Will suddenly sacrificed both his set monster and Battlefader for what he had drawn. "Tribute summon: Light and Darkness Dragon." A dragon of black and white appeared; one half demonic, the other angelic(2800/2400). "This is the endresult of my experiences. The final attack.." He sent both this new monster and the demon dragon towards the enemy.

"If you attack me now, you will draw a card and.." Yet to his dismay, Zakarias could not activate the effect of the Gunner. "What?" He noticed how its effect had instead been absorbed, by the twilight dragon. "This monster can negate all effects, at the cost of some of its power." The dragon(2300/1900) was weakened. "Then this trap card: Half or Nothing!" Zakarias tried to half the damage he would take this turn. "That too.." Yet traps too were negated by Light and Darkness(1800/1400). "No, this is not possible!" The first attack destroyed the defenseless Triad shooter. "I was the first, I was her first!" The second attack reduced his lifepoints to nothing. "Even I.. was beaten.. by just a priest." He slumped to his knees, his body dissolving. "No, Zakarias. I did not defeat you as a priest, but as a brother.. and as a human." Zakarias could only glare at the one that defeated him, his faceplate crumbling away to reveal emptied eyesockets. "You will never stop her. You can not understand her design..you.." And soon that sight crumbled away as well.

Zakarias's LP: 0

The chains loosened their hold over the duelists. "Whew.." And a key dropped into the sand before Williams feet. "At least this time we got out without losing someone." He sighed and picked it up. With another anti-item under their control, the black pyramid became visible to them again. "Even if we do not understand her plan, we will stop her.." He looked up, feeling ready for the final confrontation. "Oh you do not have to stop her." However behind them was someone else. "Huh?" There in the sky floated what must have been a million demons of various shapes and sizes. "How the.. how did those sneak up on us?" Colin gasped in exasperation. "Move aside children." And they were being lead. "I do understand her grand design, more then she does. So.. now I will take it from her." It was Hieroglyph, the Tin Pillar. "Him again?" His army had only grown since Rose last saw that man. "But I thank you for removing two more loyal servants from my path. Now there is only one obstacle left, between the merger of your world.. and mine.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 092: Eye of the Beholder)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Cyber Larva  
Trap Eater  
Red Dragon Archfiend  
Battlefader  
Light and Darkness Dragon

-  
_Emergency Cyber(+)_

-  
Remote Revenge  
_(+) Based on the spell used by Ryo/Zane in the Yugioh GX Manga_

**New Cards used by Zakarias  
**_Triad Blader  
__Triad Shielder  
_Kuraz, the Light Monarch  
_Triad Gunner_

_-  
_Tuners Scheme  
Slip Summon  
Synchro Ejection  
Damage Gate


	92. Eye of the Beholder

**New Testament 092: Eye of the Beholder**

"Well then. Let us not keep the most important member of our audience waiting.." Hieroglyph floated towards the hole in the black pyramids wall. "What are you planning to do?" William shouted at the tin pillar. "Nothing that will please you I am sure. I am just going to ensure the permanence of the worlds current situation." He stopped and looked at the army of demons behind him. "But since you will insist on the past of that world.." He snapped his fingers and all creatures turned their eyes towards the humans. "Oh crap.." They swarmed downwards like a pack of hungry dogs. "Well this is just what we need." They were outnumbered by far. "We can not give in now, we know what we have to do!" William took a card from his deck. "If we are directly engaged by the enemy, we can do the same!" He summoned the Stardust Dragon to the field. "Go!" It released a sonic blast of energy that destroyed a few of the many incoming demons. "Oh right.." And everyone else followed his example, summoning their ace monsters as well.

And while the level of noise outside reached deafening qualities, the inside of the pyramid was quite calm. And of course Hieroglyph knew this place like the back of his hand. "Like you said, creator. We meet again at the source." He stepped into a large chamber, where the Black and Mercury Pillar were waiting. "Only not in the way you might have imagined." He raised his left hand from his robes and revealed the dueling disk attached to his wrist. "Only we remain. Who else will decide to throw her life away for a better world?" He looked at both the Magus and her servant. "I.. will not be.. in the way." The masked woman said, taking a few steps back. "I see." He turned to the other. "Seneska.. you did not summon the gate of Alkahest, you summoned hell itself. Either you planned for this all along, or you could not execute the ritual. Either way, I prefer this outcome. And once I defeat you, It is I who shall rule both worlds." Seneska still did not respond. "But you still have a choice. Will you admit your failure, or will I have to convince you?"

Back outside the battle had reached a stable cycle of chaotic clashes. The creatures that attacked them appeared to be mindless and savage without a human soul to guide them, but their numbers made up for any mental handicap. The duelists managed to establish a foothold with magic and spells that kept them at bay or outright destroyed them. "It is odd though." Jackson said in the middle of the battle. "They attack at random, but most of them are content to just fly around." Not even half of the swarm was trying to kill them, they instead circled the black pyramid. "Glyph is up to something, he did not gather them all here just to keep us busy." Nero said while taking down another large ogre. "We can not keep this up forever anyway. We do not get tired here, but there is a limit to how much spirits we can summon and lose." Carter just lost one of his dragons to a gathering of undead. "Then we have to go after him. The horde seems to obey Hieroglyph, meaning we have to stop this swarm through stopping him." They all agreed on that plan.

"We will divide forces. William, we will use your dragons to fly up to the Pyramid, along with me, Elias and Jane." Jackson figured they were the best choices to face the Millennium users. "Why am I left out?" Colin did not like staying behind. "Because someone has to keep these monsters from going after them." Nero explained, the rest had to form a ground control group. "No time to waste.." Carter had already summoned a Light End Dragon for them to fly on. "Cover us!" Once everyone had mounted it, they took to the sky. "Okay!" Nero summoned E-Hero Absolute Zero to cut open a path by freezing a straight line of Ka spirits. "Good luck!" Christine and a reluctant Colin called out John Baker and Fog King to mow down the creatures that remained. "Now is our chance!" They had their opening and flew straight towards the hole in the inverted pyramid. "Come on.." The dragon flew as fast as it could, followed by a few other flying entities. "Come on!" They narrowly avoided their claws and dove head first into the enemy's lair. "They did it!"

".. this is disorienting." Elias soon realized that this pyramid was exactly as it appeared to be, everything was upside down. The whole blackness of the stone walls did not stop them from seeing inverted hieroglyphs everywhere. "Never mind that. Jane.. can you sense where Seneska is?" Jackson asked his counterpart, and the woman nodded. "Follow me.." She went ahead and lead them up a long set of tunnels, which finally ended up in a large room. It too was upside down, a large sarcophagus rested on the ceiling. "Ah!" And in that room were also the enemies they had been looking for all this time. "Seneska.." Yet they would not be able to challenge her right away, as apparently there was already one duel taking place. "Well hello children." Hieroglyph stood opposite of the room, five cards in hand. "You were a little late.." He turned to Seneska who also had five cards in her hand. "I assume you do not mind an unbiased audience?" The Magus still did not reply. "I shall take that as a yes. With that settles, I will give my creator the first move.."

Hieroglyphs LP: 8000 Seneska's LP: 8000

Seneska activated a single card, Soul Absorption; a spell that gave a player 500 LP every time a card was removed from play. "Already you rely on your personal spirit." The magician started his turn and activated his own continuous spell. "A drain for a drain: Spell absorption." His spell on the other hand added 500 lifepoints for every used spell card. "I know what your Ka does, of course. We all know each others abilities.." He activated Graceful Charity, discarding two cards after drawing three. Then he summoned the Summoner Monk(800/1600), who was shifted to defense mode. "I discard a spell to special summon a level four monster from my deck." The Monk summoned Magical Exemplar(1700/1400), the female mage in green robes. "Azoth, the elemental banisher. Once every 'turn', he can make any matter or energy go away. But you have to remove a card in your hand.." Though he could not show this, as monsters summoned by the Monk could not attack the first turn. Meanwhile the duelists wondered just whose they had to root for.

Hieroglyphs LP: 8500 Seneska's LP: 8000

"But I have a Ka spirit too.. watch closely now, my excitable audience." Behind him appeared a devilish spellcaster, wearing bloodred mage armor. "Ozymandias, lord of all magic. You remember the ability you bestowed me, creator?" Suddenly a blue light appeared in his hands. "Whenever I lose magic, I can restore it with my own energy." He paid a thousand lifepoints and in his hand appeared a second Gather your Mind. "Now. Your turn." He waited for her to speak up or attack. Yet again she wordlessly completed her turn, placing two trap cards facedown. "She was not this quiet when we confronted her.." Jackson said to himself, though Hieroglyph heard him. "Of course. She knows she has failed. She just will not admit it." He drew a card and discarded the second Gather your Mind. "Monk, call out the Magidog." Summoned was a staffwielding canine(1700/1000). "Next I normal summon a 'tuner' monster: Night's End Sorcerer.." The level 2 tuner was a young boy wielding a scythe(1300/400). "Synchro summon?"

Hieroglyphs: 6500

This was the first time they saw a 'pillar' use something like that. "Like I told your friend, I adapted... Synchro summon!" And Hieroglyph combined the Sorcerer with Magidog. "Level 2 and level 4, such ancient math will give us a class 6 Synchro monster: Tempest Magician." Instead of a boy and a dog, there was now a woman wielding a very large scythe(2200/1400). "When Magidog is used as a Synchro material, I can also add a field spell to my hand." He took one from his deck. "Field spell card: Magical Citadel of Endymion!" And the group of seven were no longer in a dark upside-down chamber. They stood at the gates of a large sprawling city instead. "The imagination really extends a hologram in this world, wouldn't you agree? For those new to its power, know this. This field gains spellcounters each time a spell is used!" He boasted as he touched the the marble structures. And Spell Absorption restored 500 of his lifepoints. "Now I use the Spell Power Grasp!" With this he could give a card a spellcounter, and add a second power grasper to his hand. "I add one to the Citadel, who also gains a counter on its own whenever a spell is used." Meanwhile he gained 500 LP from Spell Absorption again, and he paid a 1000 to claim a 3rd Gather your Mind. "Exemplar also gains two spellcounters for each spell." She had four now. "I can sacrifice those counters to revive a spellcaster." He discarded two counters for a level 2 card. "An encore from the Night's End Sorcerer!" The tuner returned to life, ready to be used for another Synchro summon.

Hieroglyphs LP: 7500

"I tune him with the Level 4 Summoner Monk, to form the level 6 Explosive Magician!" His second synchro showed up, the white thunder caster(2500/1800). "My other Synchro can discard two spellcounters on the field to destroy a trap." Exemplar lost her remaining counters, and Seneska's left trap (D.D. Barrier - Lost Force) was shredded by a bolt of lightning. **"..." **Right before it was destroyed, she flipped her continuous trap, Macrocosmos face-up. "Oho?" Helios, the Primordial Sun(300/300) was summoned to her field in defense mode. And from now on every destroyed card, like her other trap, would be banished. "Even so, this time I will certainly connect. Triple attack!" The three mages casted light and dark magic with their wands. The spell of he Exemplar removed the Primorial solar being. "Two tricks left!" The lightning of the Exploder she banished by removing a card in her hand, but the unholy magic of Tempest she had no way of stopping. **"Tsk.." **She she lost 2200 of her lifepoints to battle damage. Though she had removed three cards this turn, so she gained 1500 as well. "At last your grace us with your voice.." He ended his turn. "If only a little..." She drew a card. **"... I set a trap card." **And ended her turn right afterwards. "What is she thinking? She can not win a duel like that." It was almost possible to feel worried about her chances.

Seneska's LP: 7300

"It seems you have already given up. You must have realized that the darkness will not go away." His turn started. He activated the second Spell Power Grasp, giving two spellcounters to his field spell and the Exemplar mage. He also gained another 500 LP. "This can only end one way..." He removed two counters the female mage, so that she could cast her revival spell on Night's End Sorcerer a second time. "You never appreciated the darkness like I did. You called yourself master of the shadows, but that power was only a means to an end for you. For me it is the end." He sacrificed the Exemplar for a level 5 magician, the Disenchanter(2000/2300). "And the Beginning! When summoned, Disenchanter returns a spell, Spell Absorption, to my hand" He did this and immediately reactivated it, giving a fifth counter to the Citadel. "Now, a third synchro summon: Arcanite Magician!" Disenchanter and Night's End were tuned into a level 7 spellcaster, a darkskinned caster in white robes(400/1800). However all its materials were removed from play, as were Exemplar and Spell Power Grasp. "Arcanite Magician. When summoned he gains two spellcounters. For each counter he also gains 1000 attackpoints." The mage powered up (Arcanite: 2400/800).

Seneska's LP: 9300 Hieroglyphs LP: 8000

"Now to set the stage. Tempest Magician will start things off, by discarding cards from my hand I can add spellcounters to all cards in the field. I discard three." Pot of Duality, Gather Your Mind and Power Grasp were discarded, the Citadel and Arcanite gained three counters each (Arcanite: 5400/1800). This also gave Seneska 1500 more lifepoints. While Ozymandias took 1000 LP to add a second Pot of Duality to his masters hand. "Now there are more than eight spell counters on Endymion. Six allow me to use the fields final power.. to summon the Master Endymion!" And there came the spirit of Hieroglyphs first victim, the darkest spellcaster(2700/1700) he discarded in his first turn was revived. "His effect allows me to add a spell from my cemetery to my hand." He took back the first Spell Power Grasp. "The last two counters on Endymion I remove to reuse Explosive Magicians effect." Lightning was used to tear down the Soul absorber card. "Now the performers are ready for the coup de grace. You can finally rest easy, creator. I will defeat you before the alignment. You will not have to witness the end of a dream." "I can discard a spell, to let Endymion destroy one card on the field." He threw away the Spell Power Grasp to shatter her facedown.

Seneska's LP: 10800 Hieroglyphs LP: 7000

But she activated it at the very last instant. **"Return from the Different Dimension." **By paying half of her LP she could now special summon all monsters removed from play. "What the.." Though she only called out one, a card she had removed from play when Magidog had hit her. "That is.." It was a rocklike golem, made from sharp and shining metal(100/2500). "That metal.. it is lead.." Hieroglyph received a strange yet familiar pulse through his body. **"Lead Homunculus, to be precise.." **Neither he nor the duelists had ever seen this card, because it did not exist until just now. "Thryalls.. sacrifice.. lead to this?" Confused as he was, he was not about to let such a mindgame get the best of him. "Arcanite!" He sent the white robed Synchro, his strongest caster, to finish it off. **"Tin Pillar. Have you forgotten? The specialty of Lead Pillar.." **Arcanite attacked, but all of his magical energy could not hit the enemy. "Yubel's spirit?" It instead bounced back towards its origin, blowing up Arcanite Magician and hitting Hieroglyph at the same time. "Gaaaahhh!" He screamed out loud as he felt real pain for the first time in a long time. **"You should never have assumed.. that my eye could not see right through your tricks..."**

Seneska's LP: 5400 Hieroglyphs LP: 1600

_Lead Homunculus, 6/100/2500 Warrior/Fire  
__If this face-up attack position card battles with an opponent's monster,  
destroy that monster at the start of the damage step and inflict damage equal to the destroyed monsters ATK to your opponent._

(To be Continued in New Testament 093: Magnum Opus)

**New Cards used by Hieroglyph  
**Summoner Monk  
Magidog  
Night's End Sorcerer  
Tempest Magician  
Disenchanter  
Arcanite Magician

-  
Spell Absorption  
Graceful Charity

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**_Lead Homunculus_

-  
Soul Absorption

-  
Return from the Different Dimension


	93. Magnum Opus

**New Testament 093: Magnum Opus**

"It stopped?" After what seemed like an eternity, the swarm of Ka beings ceased their savage assault on the duelists below the pyramid. "But there are so many left.." They had only been able to destroy a few hundred, thousands more floated around. And the ones they had destroyed still lingered as spiritual energy. "Either Hieroglyph had told the rest to do something else, or they just lost interest.." But the spirits did not appear to do anything besides circling the hideout of Seneska. "They must be making sure, nobody escapes.." However one concern was about to be replaced with another. "Look!" Christine pointed up the moon that was their world. "What on..earth? Literally.." A shadow was moving in front of the planet, as it an eclipse was taking place. "That is not a good sign at all. Is Glyph doing that, or is it the Magus?"

Seneska's LP: 5400 Hieroglyphs LP: 1600

"Your eye could read my mind all along?" Hieroglyph sounded not like his usual confident self, not after he heard that. **"My eye sees everything, Tin Pillar. It even sees the doubts and urges of my own creations. Just because you were given an anti-item, does not mean you are immune to all others." **Seneska placed a hand on her chest. **"A part of your heart is still with me." **The magician touched his chest as well and cringed as he recalledtheir first encounter. **"And of course, I have an anti-item too. That alone ensures that no mind, not even the pharaoh or his priests, can evade my sight." **The Pillar grinded his teeth in frustration. "Then why did you let me get this far? Why did you put yourself in a position where only I can win?" Return from the Different Dimension could only keep her powerful monster on the field for one turn. "You are outnumbered.." He activated the Arcane Barrier, gaining 500 LP from Spell Absorption. "Tempest Magician!" Then he used the effect of his female caster, converting spellcounters into burn damage. "When Acranite died, his five counters were added to the field spell." The citadel of Endymion had six counters now, and all six were used to damage the Magus, 500 damage for each spellcounter. "I shall take whatever item you hide, Seneska."

Seneska's LP: 2400 Hieroglyphs LP: 2100

Speaking of items, it was only now that Elias noticed one lying on the floor. "Oh!" In the corner of the dark chamber was something gold and glowing. "The Puzzle!" Unfortunately his excitement gave his intentions away. "No.." And the other pillar in the area, Fatimah, simply stepped in front of him. "Out of my way! I need.." Even if they could not duel Seneska, they had to do something. "Uhn.." But that would be difficult, when ones muscles did not respond. "What?" He, Nero and Jackson were frozen in place. They could not move at all. "She.." Fatimah walked over to the Puzzle and picked it up. **"Thank you, Mercury Pillar. This is not the time for distractions.." **The Magus could finally start her turn. "Feh. Distracted or not.. I do not see how you can overcome these odds. My mighty spellcasters against your nothing.." The Lead Homunculus was gone already. **"Nothingness.. quite the contrary... If seven or more cards are removed, I can use the spell 'Chaos End'" **Yet that one card was enough to destroy his advantage. "No!"

Hieroglyphs LP: 2600

The Tempest, Explosive and Master Magician were all sucked into another dimension, banished from his field. **"Fear not, you will receive more of that magic you cherish so much. Spell card: Chaos Greed" **Because she had no cards in her grave, she could draw two new cards. **"Permanent spell card - Chaos Distill.." **She then placed her chaotic kettle on the field, so that she could summon her Alchemic Beasts. **"Yellow Process - Citrinitas." **But first she used a spell to call out a Homunculus , a brown golem resembling a set of scales(1700/1700). "That must be.. Dioscure's sacrifice." Seneska nodded. **"Copper Homunculus. As long as it lives, the creation of beasts will triple its results.." **This was demonstrated when she used her fifth spell, Silver Lamp. **"I special summon, not one Moonface.." **A shining moon-shaped entity(500/500) appeared. **"Direct attack"** The silver creations, alongside the copper titan, clashed with the magician of tin.

Hieroglyphs LP: 1400

_Yellow Process - Citrinitas, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while you control a face-up 'Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill'. Special summon 1 monster with 'Homunculus' in its name from your hand or deck._

_Copper Homunculus, 5/1700/1700 Warrior/Earth  
__Once per turn, when an 'Alchemy Beast' monster card is succesfully special summoned, special summon all cards with the same name as the summoned monster  
__from your hand, deck, and graveyard in face-up attack position. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all face-up 'Alchemy Beast' monster cards on your side of the field._

_Silver Lamp, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Silver Moonface' from your extra deck. _

_Alchemy Beast Silver Moonface 3/500/500 Dark/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Silver Lamp'. This monster can attack your opponent directly._

"Tsk." Only because his Spell Absorber was still working, did he survive those four attacks. **"Does it bother you?" **Seneska ended her turn. "That you use the memories of your creations this way, that my brethren in the end mean nothing to you?" Hieroglyph drew again. "It surprises me.. but I was already beyond caring.. I spent many lifetimes in the shadows of other people, my memories of those lives say more to me than my connection to any of you. But then you must have seen this too." He activated the Pot of Duality in his hand, three cards (Magicians Unite, Magical Hats and Destruction Spell 99) from his deck appeared in front of him. "This one.." The last one he picked, the rest was shuffled back into the deck. "You have seen everything. Then why did you fail.. creator?" He summoned Defender the Magical Knight(1600/2000), who gained one spellcounter when summoned. "Can you tell me that!" The Defender cut down one of three Moonfaces with his dagger. But the damage she received was cancelled out by her spirit, Azoth.

Hieroglyphs LP: 1900

This time the others could see Azoth clearly; a colorless undead knight trapped in a large crystal. She removed the last card in her hand to banish the damage. "You may not see it inside this secluded room of yours, you may not want to see it. But it is clear to everyone else that the human world and the shadow world are becoming one. This is not what you wanted to happen.." He activated the Destruction Spell he had added to his hand. "I inflict 100 damage to the opponent, for each spellcounter on the field!" He had accumulated 9 right now, 6 on Endymyion, 3 on Arcane Barrier and 1 on the Defender, so the damage would be minimal. But he needed the boost from Spell Absorption in case she pulled out more Alchemic beasts on the next turn. "In a matter of minutes the alignment will be complete, and both worlds will be fused permanently. With my powers and the Millennium Rod I can rule that fusion. And now you are telling me, you let me betray you.."

Seneska's LP: 1400 Hieroglyphs LP: 2400

_Destruction Spell LV99, Quick-Play Spell  
__Decrease your opponents life points by 100 for each spell counter on the field._

**"Do not misunderstand, Tin Pillar. I am not going to let your betrayal go unanswered, nor do I intend to let you rule the darkness..." **She activated the spell card, Magic Planter, removing Macrocosmos from her field to draw two new cards. Even though this spell healed her enemy a little as well. **"The truth will soon become clear to you." **She sent the remaining Moonfaces to attack him directly, while the Copper Homunculus tried to crush Defender with his left claw. "I have a name, Seneska. I was born as Hieroglyph.." But the Defender could save any spellcaster by sacrificing 1 spellcounter on his field, thus he removed his own to strengthen his shield. "Soon the whole world shall know that name." Defender withstood the attack. "Of all your creations, I alone was born from true sin. The others were just persecuted, or punished by corruption. That is why they are all loyal to you." He looked at Fatimah. "That is why they wont admit your failure either." Fatimah in turn looked away. "But you did fail, you are still just the little sister of the mighty Raness, who can not even complete one ritual!"

Hieroglyphs LP: 1800

"I summon Alchemist of Black Spells and switch him to defense mode with his effect." The alchemist's effect also added one spellcounter to a card, and he used it on Arcane Barrier. "Now I tribute him for Arcane Barrier." Three spellcasters had been destroyed since the Barrier had been activated, so it had 4 spellcounters in total. "I draw four cards." He added several monsters to his hand, and already he began to form a plan in his mind. "I set one card facedown and attack!" The Defender stabbed another Silver beast to death, Seneska again banished the damage she would have taken. **"Tin Pillar. I already said that no mind can hide from me. I already know what you are planning.." **Seneska entered her turn.** "D.D. Scout Plane." **The card she removed last turn was the drone(800/1200) from another dimension, who was special summoned when removed from play. **"And.. Golden Homunculus" **She sacrificed it for the level 6 monster(1500/1500) that had beaten Colin. _"Her own element?"_ Jackson figured gold was the metal of the Magus herself. "Heh. If you saw my facedown card, why did you trigger it?" He activated the set card. "Magical Dimension!"

Hieroglyphs LP: 2300

By tributing Defender he could destroy one monster on the field. Her Golden titan was reduced to rubble. At the same time, he could special summon a magician from his hand, so he called out the dark dressed Night Wing Sorceress(1300/1200). **"To see the mind and to control the mind are two different things, you of all my creations should know this." **She switched Copper Homunculus to defense mode and attacked directly with her last Alchemic Beast. "What you mean to tell me is that even you can not see the future. And Fatimah can not help other users of the Millennium items.. our fates are too unpredictable." Hieroglyph drew again. "Well I can predict one thing. This game of ours will end too late.." He summoned a level 2 tuner from his hand, the Arcane Apprentice(1000/400). "I also special summon this monster by discarding a card in my hand: come out The Tricky!" A faceless jester of the 5th level (2000/1200) joined his caster arsenal. "Apprentice of Arcanite and Trickster mage, I combine you!" He synchro summoned again, forming a second Arcanite Magician(2400/1800), who immediately gained 2 spell counters.

Hieroglyphs LP: 1800

**"And now you will use two spell counters to destroy 2 cards on my field." **Seneska said calmly. "I do not need to tell you my how to use my monsters." Arcanite could remove a counter to destroy a card, and he did remove two to destroy both the Alchemic Kettle and the Copper Homunculus. "Your beasts can not live without their Copper, heh." The last Moonface perished as well. "And now.. This card." He revealed a trap, Assault Mode Activate. "A trump card I had crafted myself, this trap is added to my hand when Arcane Apprentice is used as a Synchro material. And I can activate it in one turn if I control Nightwing." He set the card and used it. "Assault Mode Activate: Arcanite evolves!" The holy mage discarded his white robes, revealing blackred armor underneath and attaining new magical powers(2900/2300). "All you have left is your Azoth." Arcanite Assault Mode and the blackwinged sorceress attacked her directly, and Azoth could only erase the damage of the first attack. "Everything else has fallen to pieces.. Seneska.."

Seneska's LP: 100

"And here they come now." The sound of footsteps filled the hall, fast-paced steps too. "Guys, guys guys!" Colins voice sounded over the others. "What?" Nero, Christine and the seer also entered the chamber. "Whoa.. upside down?" Since William and company were still frozen up, Jane did the asking for them. "What happened?" But Hieroglyph was the one eager to answer. "Obviously, they came to tell about the horrors outside. You see.." He finished his turn. "I was right, you were all too late to stop it. The shadow-world has connected completely, both planets are now.." But they just looked at him on confusion. "What? No that did not happen.." Nero said, not sure what Glyph was talking about. "Do not play tricks with me, Nero." He laughed. But they looked serious. "It is not that. When the eclipse happened.. the sky just... disappeared. Everything went white!" Rose explained, causing the magicians face to contort with fear. "WHAT?" And Seneska's smile grew very wide. **"Then it was just as I planned... after all."**

She snapped her fingers and the walls of the black pyramid turned transparent. At the same time Fatimah released the three duelists she had paralyzed. "Ghah.." They all could see through the ceiling now, and saw the sky. "This is unreal.." It was neither a blue or a dark sky, nor was it cloudfilled. It was just an endless white space. **"The first stage has ended at last. I thank you, Hieroglyph." **The Tin Pillar turned back to her. "What? What did you do to my dark world, my kingdom!" He yelled at her, this he had never expected. **"It was not me. I did not expect it to happen like this. But now I see why it happened this way.. Before perfection, all sin must be washed away. All shadows and demons must leave the soul." **She saw with her eye that he still did not understand, so she went on. **"Hieroglyph, the two worlds can not merge. The darkness and the light will merely cancel each other out. Instead what the ritual has created, what you have sped up with your Millennium Rod.. is the first process.. Nigredo." **She extended both hands to the sky. **"This is the second process; Albedo." **The magician shook his head. "No, not like this. This does not make sense, this is not what I wanted.."

**"Incidentally, would you like to see your own sacrifice?"**

"Huh?" Seneska entered her turn, summoning a golem made out of the Tin element(0/0). "Is that supposed to be.. me?" It did not resemble him at all, only at a basic level could one make a comparison. **"As I said, your heart is with me. I gave your immortality, I gave you purpose. Now I will put an end to that transaction." **The creature attacked. **"Tin Homunculus's attack will always be one millennium ahead of its greatest enemies, one thousand attackpoints.." **The golem grew in size(3900/0), towering over the Assault Mode Magician. "No. Not like this, not by my own hand!" He would not survive an attack from that thing. **"You served me well, Hieroglyph. But as I always feared, I kept you too far from my side. You were infected by the memories of your other hosts.. Endymion, Glyph. You loved the darkness too much." **Her homunculus targeted Nightwing Sorcererss and finished her off, along with his lifepoints. **"And what you told me earlier. I will return it.. I shall spare you the nightmare of the perfect world that waits for us all."**

Hieroglyphs LP: 0

_Tin Homunculus, 4/0/0 Warrior/Wind  
__When this card declares an attack, its ATK becomes 1000 points higher than the highest face-up monsters ATK on the field.  
__When this card is removed from play, select 1 monster card on your side of the field and put 1 spell counter on it.  
The monster with a spell counter on it can not be destroyed as a result of battle._

(To be Continued in New Testament 094: Clean Slate for the World)

**New Cards used by Hieroglyph  
**Defender, the Magical Knight  
Nightwing Sorceress  
The Tricky  
Arcane Apprentice  
Arcanite Magician - Assault Mode

-  
Pot of Duality  
_Destruction Spell LV99_

-  
Assault Mode Activate

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**_Copper Homunculus  
__Silver Moonface (+)  
__Tin Homunculus_

-  
Chaos End  
_Yellow Process - Citrinitas (+)  
__Silver Lamp (+)  
_Magic Planter

_(+) Based on the cards used by Amnael in Yugioh GX_


	94. Clean Slate for the World

**New Testament 094: Clean Slate for the World**

"Something must have happened.. they must have done...something." Cable could not quite find the words he needed to describe what everyone saw right now. "Yeah but.. Is this a good thing?" The dark void left the skies, but it did not give the blue sky back either. They only saw an white void. "There is no..light?" Madlyn looked down on the floor, and she could see neither her own nor other shadows. "Wait. Look.." Prospero heard a sound and looked around. "They are.. waking up?" The unconscious men and women strewn across the airport were getting up one at a time. But that was not the strange part. "Hey.." The people looked up once, only to ignore the clearly abnormal air and resumed their daily business. "Bizarre.." They walked to their cars to leave, or into the center to buy tickets. They acted as if nothing had happened to them. "Excuse me! Do you know what just happened to you?" The fortune teller asked a random bystander. He looked at him and shrugged. "Huh? I only had a bad dream, good sir. Nothing to worry about, not anymore.."

Meanwhile the world of shadows, the darkness that previously covered the planet like an omen of death, was slowly dissolving. The white sky ate away every last black particle, leaving only the earth-like structures behind. "This can not be the end. The worlds were supposed to merge.. why is my world being destroyed!" Hieroglyph took it pretty bad. Not only had Seneska beaten him, she had proven the futility of his entire betrayal. **"This hell is merely a home for a home for banished shadows and impurities. Alkahest himself knew that to reach perfection, first the darkness had to be washed away. That is Nigredo: to cover the world in pure darkness, a total state of despair. Now I finally understand the ritual he wrote down." **The shadows were bundling together above her, and the many demons and demonic energy trails were drawn to that dark sphere. **"Humanity was not just put to rest, their souls experienced their worst fears and dreams. The point where both worlds merged was the zenith of that despair."**

**"In the end only a few evaded 'despair', but those few can not stop the ascension anymore. Now 'Albedo' begins." **By now all creatures of the dark gathered towards the dark orb, even the tall shadows that William Carter recognized as the Earthbound Gods were sucked into that black hole. "Nigredo?" The duelists too were curious about this process. **"The second stage towards perfection; where all impurities are washed away. Already the shadow world is starting to get consumed by the portal itself. What you see above you is the gate of alkahest in its imperfect state." **Reacting in an instant, Hieroglyph fired a magic blast at the hole. "I curse that gate then!" But the energy was merely swallowed up like everything else. **"That will not work anymore. The powers of darkness will only grow weaker from this point on. Hieroglyph, you did well in coming this far." **The magician glared at her. **"But now I must sacrifice you as well." **Right as she stabbed through her own chest with one of her claws. "Ghk!" The Tin Pillar however was the one coughing up blood. "Seneska.." She pulled out a tiny black and bloody sliver from her wound. **"Your heart and mine can no longer coexist.." **And she crushed it. "Gaaahhh!!!!"

The Magician was surrounded by bright flames, his entire body burned to microscopic ashes. "Jesus.." Even the Tin Hammer around his neck melted into nothingness. The Millennium Rod alone remained, falling at Nero's feet. "Hieroglyph.. is destroyed." Fatimah walked over to the crater where he once stood. "Immortal.. no more.." She took the rod for herself and joined her creator's side. "Now what will happen, to us?" Colin was afraid to ask. **"Now.. now you can return home." **She said rather calmly. "What?" All seven had definitely heard the same thing. **"You can no longer affect the summoning. But I do not think you will want to stop me, once you see the world for what it has become." **Her Millennium eye started to glow and various images of places around the planet were projected into their minds.

"This is impossible.." They saw how life had returned to normal already, people were walking about like the whiteness was a standard phenomenon. **"Look closer.." **One place in particular stood out. "I know that city.." It was the area that Zakarias and Archon had ransacked. It too appeared to be teeming with life again. "You restored those souls?" The Magus nodded. **"With the dissolution of the shadow world, the innocent souls can only be returned to yours. But I have done so much more for your kind.." **She showed scenes at hospitals, warzones even common households. "What is this all about?" Everywhere they looked, they only saw peaceful images. **"Albedo is to remove needless concepts from the soul, ideas like strife and envy no longer exist. Man is no longer limited by their shadowself. And also.." **For Nero the slideshow stopped at one building. **"Flaws will also be erased on the mental plane." **He saw a hospital room, a man and a woman were waking up from their beds. "Mom.. dad?" He could not believe it.

"Hey!" Nor could William. "How do we know if this is real?" It was possible that Seneska was just feeding them nice pictures to get them to agree with her. **"My Eye has always seen nothing but the truth, William Carter." **She stated with an unexpected taint of smugness. "Then what about Cleo? If all the victims your creations made just come back, where is she?" He could ask the same thing about Ceasar or even his own borther Andre. **"The dead will have to remain dead. Immortality is still not implemented as of this stage. But you need not worry, you will all be reunited once we the gate is completed." **She ended the projection. "..." They were not sure what to think of this. What they saw was basically heaven on earth. "You want us to believe, that all the terror and all the destruction, was just to get us to this point?" All of the sudden the Magus seemed like a messiah rather than a manipulator. **"As I said, before hope comes despair. I regret your losses, but every offering was worth it. Every soul is worth it..."**

Though none spoke up, the silence was nevertheless one of awkwardness. **"But I already read your thoughts about this. You still.." **She snapped her fingers again, which produced the rather odd effect of everyone's dueldisks being torn to pieces. **"wish to fight me... And I can not change the will of souls." **She sighed. "Then what did you do that for?" Colin rubbed his sore arm. **"It is time for you to return, for you to see the new world If that can not convince you, nothing can." **The transparency of their environment began to spread, not just the chamber but the entire pyramid seemed to blend in with the background. "Wait! If you truly mean us no harm, what about Raness?" Elias was still fixated on the Millennium Puzzle. **"My brother... You may have his vessel, for his heart is not in it anymore.." **With a gesture she telekinetically moved the item into the hands of the student. **"As his five remaining priests, that yearning is natural. I bid you farewell. We'll see each other again when the sun turns red.."**

And then all the rest faded out at the same time, the Magus and her underling were gone, the two pyramids were missing. "Holy!" And they were not in Egypt anymore. "Guys!?" Instead all seven duelists found themselves at the entrance of the airport. Christine recognized the place, the others did not. "You're back! And you are.. here.." They were greeted by a startled yet happy Prospero and Cable. "What do you mean we were gone?" As far as they knew, their bodies had never left. Then again they were suddenly back in England. "You were gone entirely.. did Jane not tell you this would happen?" She had not told them either. "No... Jane?" Jackson turned around, but realized that she could not be here. "We left her.. she was using someone's body. Does this mean she was still on the other continent?" In that case, she would still have the Millennium Ring with her. "No. I am here.." A voice spoke up. When they turned around they saw a girl holding the golden ring in her hands. "Wait.. Jane?" It was Jane Doe, in her original form.

"Who is that?" This was the first time Madlyn and Prospero even heard of her, let alone see her. "That is Jane Doe, Jacksons.. shadow so to speak. But when did you.. become real?" Before this she had to use other people's bodies to speak. "I do not know. I think it was the creator.." Looking at her ring, everyone began to wonder if the Items had been transported along with them. "Aha.." Nero still had the Millennium Rod he had picked up, Elias and William held on to the Puzzle and Key. "Then you did defeat at least some of the pillars.." Cable sounded hopeful again. "We did.. but.. we could not stop Seneska. And.." And then Gaines recalled who had helped him defeat one of the pillars. "Cleo!" He tried to find her among the group. "Oh yeah, where is she?" But nobody could see her, her body was not returned. "Jane, where is she? What did you do to her?" He shook the girl by the arms. "I did not do this. Remember that I have no idea where her soul ended up.." She had sent them to the shadow-world, but Seneska decided who would return. "No.."

Just then Ananka appeared after a flash. "Oh. You are here after all.." She too was glad to see them, despite the circumstances of the rest of the world. "I am sorry that I could not follow you to that world. I stayed with the group in Egypt because they had noone to oversee their return. But instead you came back here.." And when the sky turned white all the cars on the road started driving again, ignoring the fact that a ghost stood right next to them, or that one of them had recently been possessed. "Was Cleo there?" Christine had to ask, even if she knew the answer would be painful. "She wasn't. But why.. what happened?"

Then the duelists told them what happened; how they managed to defeat Archon and Zakarias, only to have their efforts go to waste when they reached Seneska too late. "Then Cleo is.. Ananka. I am almost afraid to ask, but you can go where we can not." Ananka understood where Cable was going. "I will see what I can do. It is.. difficult to explain that world to you, so I shall just go.." She disappeared again. "Is she going to heaven?" Madlyn asked rather bluntly. "That's the only place where someone like Cleo deserves to be." Cable moaned. "But what can we do now? Have you seen the people around?" Prospero pointed at crowd around them. "They do not think the sky is weird, they do not think their collective deep sleep was unusual It is just not right.." Yet none had an idea on where to go. _"She wanted us.. to see this"_

The unusual behaviour was now characteristic of most humans on the globe, all except a select few gatherings. The collective at the airport was not alone. ".. the hell is going on?" Lydia and Rivet were watching the public in a large corporate building. But they were all so composed, soft and gentle. "Hey.. "She even bumped into one person, causing him to trip and drop his files. "That is okay, you are new here." But all he did was smile. "What." Others on the floor even helped him pick up his stuff. "This is what we expected would happen, Lydia Blackstone. The master foresaw this." Rivet appeared more in tune with the new mood. "You are not turning into one them, are you?" She rasped. "No. And I can tell that neither are you." They walked towards an elevator. "Then what is the big plan now? The world is going shiny happy people on us." She was not sure if she liked this more than the whole shadow-chaos. "Now we make our move. We can put this atmosphere to our use. All we need is the right man to gain access. It is time replace your teacher.."

But they were the only ones to fight off the Albedo. Everyone else had either fallen to the nightmares, or had their shadows and ka overpower them. Either way led to a deep sleep of despair and a new psyche. **"It is perfect. But not perfect enough." **Seneska and Fatimah were watching it all from above, standing on a large crystal platform that surrounded the still growing black hole. "Creator.." Fatimah however sounded worried. **"I am aware, Mercury Pillar. You can stand aside, and let me deal with 'them'." **And not a minute sooner did six shining lights of energy appear on the platform. Six beings that summoned themselves to her gate. **"Ah welcome, welcome..Sentinels" **They were here, the previous guardians of the shadow world. Next to Fimbulvin and Mulcifer were four others. **"Or should I say.. Priests?"**

The sentinels took off their masks, revealing quite human faces underneath. "You have gone too far Seneska." Their leader was Zevgar himself, the sentinel wearing a brown cloak. **"You were forced to intervene I see. Now that the world of shadows is gone, you fear that the world of Ka and Ba will fall next. But it is only the next stage to perfection." **She smiled. "We care not for what you say." A priest in green cursed. "This madness ends now!" Another in purple shouted. **"I am afraid you can not stop it anymore." **Despite her words, all six advanced on her. "We will stop it by stopping you. And this time we shall not simply banish you, Seneska." They summoned their own dueldisks, golden armor equipped to their arms. **"In that case. I shall just have to defeat you all." **She placed one hand on the crystal floor. "You can not fight all six of us at once. We are masters of nature." Zevgar boasted. **"In that case.. you should meet Azoth"** Suddenly the crystal cracked open. **"Banisher of elements.." **And the skeletal knight emerged.

(To be Continued in New Testament 095: Color me Nothing)


	95. Color me Nothing

**New Testament 095: Color me Nothing**

The world had changed, it lacked a natural shadow, the sun itself had been replaced by a white emptiness. And not a single soul in the world seemed to care. "What do you mean you're disbanding?" Not even the army, whom Cable had chosen to visit first. They had to return the jeep to them after all. "The orders of the government. But I see no reason to object.." The commander said rather calmly. It appeared that all the soldiers Archon and Seneska had banished to the shadow world had been returned, but none of them remembered any of that. "But where will you go, what job will you take? I know there is peace and all.. but.." Fraser was worried about the long-term, and what it implied. "You do not understand yet Cable. None of that will matter soon, a beautiful dawn is coming." He placed his hand on the mans shoulder. "I enjoyed working with you, but those days are over. Conflict, strife, war; we should all just forget what those words mean." He smiled and walked away. Cable could not believe what was happening. "This can not be..a good thing."

It was the same way at the film studio, which Christine Colin and Madlyn checked out. "What?" Except for a small surprise. "You lost Marcus?" The soldiers there woke up, but Simmons was nowhere in sight. "Do not raise your voice Colin, we will stand out that way." Christine warned him. Apparently even anger seemed difficult to come by. "We can not explain how. His gas knocked us out, he must have run away before we came to." Of course they slept longer than they should have due to the darkness. "But he was knocked out when we left him, right?" Rose asked Madlyn, who nodded. "How dangerous can he be? If he is like the rest of the world, he should not be the type to think dangerous thoughts anymore.." If even murdered lost all their wicked urges, an ex-Kartel member should be as harmless as a kitten. "I don't know. He was unconscious before the sky turned black. And it is possible that he, like us, could resist the effects." Though there was also a chance that his shadow got the better of him. "We should track him down either way."

"The ramifications of this whole mess are mindblowing, if you ask me." Colin said as they went back up. "I can not imagine living like this. Where is the fun in perfection if it means you lose a part of yourself?" He shook his head. "I know what you mean. It just sounds too good to be true. No more pain, no more loss." Christine had to admit that it seemed nice on paper. But the more she thought about it, the more reasons she found to dislike it. "It's stagnation." Madlyn chimed in on their conversation. "No. It is even worse. If everything is perfect, nobody will want to continue, nobody will think of reaching for the future. There won't be a reason for living anymore." She did not want to think about it at all, it sounded even worse than death. "Huh.. You can be somewhat profound when you aren't trying to torture people." Sairve said, a little nervously at that. "I do not feel like that anymore, not now. These people here probably would not even react to pain." The flower girl sighed. "In the end the world will go on without humanity, only nature remains..."

Just then, as they reached the surface, they came across the ghost of Ananka. She could only appear where Colin was, as long as he held on to her deck. "Oh! Ananka.. did you find out anything about.." And they had hoped she would bring back news about Cleo, but even the dead could not hide their emotions. "You could not.." Christine saw the sadness in her eyes. "I am sorry. I could not find her, or anything about her." Even she could not discover where Cleo's soul had ended up. "How is it up.. there.. Is it the same as here?" Now he was curious about 'the afterlife'. "It is hard to say, to you. Where I went is beyond words.. But from what I can remember, it seems the white expanse has no influence over the deceased. But we all know what is coming." Just then one soldier walked by. "Hey who are you talking too?" He apparently could not see Ananka. "Ehr.. ourselves?" They answered him quickly, which he accepted. "Okay then." He too smiled and went on his way. "Eerie.." They would never get used to that. "Though now I wonder.. why can only we see you?" The ghost shrugged. "I can not figure that out either. I want to say it is because of our connection, but Madlyn here can see me too. At any rate you should worry about other things right now. About the living.."

And what she told them, others were already doing. "Thanks for coming with me William, I did not want to go through this alone." Nero and Will had taken the plane to Switzerland, to make a visit that was very important to the former. "No problem at all. I know what you must be feeling." They then drove to the hospital. "I just want to be sure, to know that she did not show the a fake reality." Seneska had shown him, that two people dear to him had recovered in the wake of the Nigredo. "But even if she did not.. I fear what is to come." The residents of the building showed the way to the room. "If it comes to that, I do not know what I will do." He was scared, he had not spoken to either for years. "We will make it work somehow." Carter already knew what could happen. "If they are anything like my family, it will be fine." He had called them earlier this day. But they too were no longer the same. "Okay.." And finally he stood in front of the door. "Then here I go." Nero pushed it open and was greeted by two figures. "Hello son."

They were there; Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, sitting in their beds, awake and alive. "It has been a while, Nero." Their voices were just like in his memories. "Mom..Dad." He was overwhelmed by his feelings and rushed to embrace them. "You really are here!" They did the same, and for a moment he had never felt happier. "Who is your friend?" They asked him after a while. "Oh. Mom, dad. I'd like you to meet William Carter. He was.. very helpful.. while you two were.. sleeping." Unfortunately that subject had to come up eventually. "Mom..Dad.. how are you feeling?" They looked at their son. "Fine as a whistle, Nero. Why do you ask?" Mr. Sullivan sounded rather confused. "I don't think that is the right phrase, dear." Mrs. Sullivan did not even seem to notice his concern. "It is just that.. people have all been having bad dreams. And then when they wake up, they change.." He started to feel uncomfortable. "Oh that is all over now son, you do not need to worry about that." His father laughed. "I feel it in my gut, Nero. Something amazing is going to happen soon.."

And it was as he had feared. Truly nobody had been left untouched, not even the children. "How can you tell though. Children are always so carefree.." Elias was on the phone with Colin and company, he had gone back to the orphanage on his own. But what he found he just had to tell the others. "I can... They act less wild and playful, they do not even show any interest in anything." He just knew, after spending years at that place, that something was up. "And what about.. the Puzzle?" Sairve hated that question, but he had to send it. "Still nothing. And it is not as if he is not inside. I can just sense a part of him, but he will not come out. I should have Prospero and Jackson respectively. "Guys, you need to see this!" Prospero yelled at Colin. "It is important." Doe repeated to the student. "On the TV?" Apparently there was some big news.

"Hey. We know that guy, don't we?" Elias and the others all zapped to the right channel. "He was found after all?" They saw Marcus Simmons, escorted by several officials into a car. "What the heck happened to him?" Colin turned up the volume and heard the reporter talking about how the wanted Simmons was found thanks to a tip from a helpful citizen. "Is he being brought to trial now or something? I thought they did not believe in conflict anymore." But it quickly became apparent what this was really about, as they mentioned a weapon that he needed to dismantle. "They must be talking about the Orichalcos satellite." Christine gasped. "The whatwaitwhat? When did Marcus get one of those?" Colin had not heard about this yet. "He tried to use it against Seneska back in Egypt, did you not see it in action?" Indeed he had not, as Seneska had casually defended herself and the pyramid against the beam at that time. But the satellite itself still posed a threat, even if it was out of order right now. "Hate no longer exists, but fear does.."

"Wait." Jackson, Prospero and Cable were watching the report as well, and saw a second recognizable character. "Lydia Blackstone?" The darkhaired girl was with the officials, waving at the people. "She is the one that delivered Marcus?" They had not seen her for a while either. "And she is going there with him." There was another man with her, a scarred person whom they had not met before. "This does not make me feel better. Something odd is going on." They turned back to each other on the phone. "We have to check this out. Even if this is standard procedure, if Marcus is involved we can not afford to be out of the loop."

...

And that journey would take them halfway across the globe, as the hearing took place all the way at the space centre Cheyenne mountains. "I can not believe it. Freakin NORAD.." Lydia had never dreamed of going to that base. "Remember to keep up the act, ms. Blackstone." She was accompanied by Rivet and the nameless girl. "I know, I know." It was hard for her to maintain an innocent appearance, considering how kind everyone else was acting. "Are you saying something my ear?" Marcus was with them as well, unaware of their not so subtle plotting. "Nothing you need to worry about, teacher.." She smiled. It was a good thing for them that Marcus did not remember anything after all, he would not be this cooperative otherwise. "This is all just a misunderstanding." Thanks to that she felt more confident in her ability to play along.

That was until she realized who else was at the hearing. "What?" Next to a line of happy looking soldiers and scientists, was Cable Fraser. "How did he get here?" She asked, whispering to her cohorts. "He still had connections, this was to be expected." The girl replied softly. "Ah my old friend, what a delight to see you!" Marcus was however on the exact opposite side of emotions, warmly greeting his ex-partner. "You too.." Fraser did not really know what to say. "You seem.. like all the others." Now he knew he was just as mesmerized as the rest of the world. "We can discuss our personal stories later, old friend. Right now the world has a right to know about that weapon in the sky. And they can not take it down without my information." The commander nodded. "Yes. Before we accept the new dawn, we must make sure to remove any threat of the old mindset. And to keep behind a save world for life not yet blessed with perfection." They all sat down. "Your escorts may step outside." Marcus and Rivet nodded. "But of course."

"Glad to get that.." Lydia and Rivet walked outside the conference room. "..!?" Only to meet up with more old faces. "Hello Lydia." Jackson, Colin, Christine, even Madlyn was there. "Who are your new friends?" Colin pointed to Rivet and the girl. "I could ask you same thing." Jane Doe was with them as well, and she certainly did not recognize that face. "It is a long story.." Jackson explained. "But Lydia. Something tells me..that you are not like the rest of the people here." Already they had noticed her rather grumpy un-blissful expression. "Tsk. Observant of you.. That makes me a part of your group doesn't it?" Meanwhile Rivet sighed. "I guess the charade was a flimsy one anyway." He shrugged. "But why are you.. and who are you? And for that matter why did you bring Marcus here?" They had a lot of questions, and that did not sit well with the girl. "Rivet. I think the master would not want us to delay." The scarred man nodded. "I gotcha." He took up his suitcase. "What are you.." And pulled out a grenade, tossing it to the floor. "Holy!"

Luckily it did not explode, but it did release smoke. "What are you doing now?" Lydia had not heard of this part of the plan. "Adapting. Follow us!" The two ran off and Lydia followed. "Wait!" The rest was left behind to cough. "Why didn't you do anything to stop them?" They asked one the soldiers who stood in the hallway. "I .. don't know. I do not see how they would be threatening to us." It was useless to ask, they had forgotten the concept of danger apparently. Heck, the people inside the conference room continued their discussion as if nothing was going on. "Then give us a gun or something." To that the soldier shook his head as well. "Sorry sir, we discarded those." Colins eye twitched. "Everyone has gotten suicidal! No wonder people like Lydia will take advantage..!" By now the smoke had cleared. "Wait, where did Madlyn go?"

"This is just madness Rivet. I thought we came here to prepare for whatever is about to happen to the world. If we wanted to storm friggin NORAD, we could have done that during the dark hours.." She hissed at her partner. "How would you make it there in time, Lydia? All flights were still out. No, we have to make our move now. This facility monitors and controls the communications of the entire globe, it is perfect for our plan." They reached the hallway leading towards the command centre, none of the guards opposed them or stood in their way. "We just have to reach the master computer. And connect to the Orichalcos satellite. But I fear someone here will have to delay the people behind us." He suddenly stopped. "Huh?" Someone had managed to track them despite the smokescreen. "Hey Lydia." Madlyn stood at the end of the hall. ".. hello Mad.." Blackstone was less than thrilled. "I do not know what you're doing. But.. can I help?"

(To be Continued in New Testament 096: The Mad the Bad and the Ugly)


	96. The Mad the Bad and the Ugly

**New Testament 096: The Mad the Bad and the Ugly**

"You.. want to work with us?" Right here, in the middle of NORAD, Madlyn came up to Lydia and her friends with an unexpected proposal. "Why would you?" A confusing proposal at that. "I was your partner before, was I not? You were the one that ran away.. forcing me to stick with those boring people.." She stated rather calmly, which made it hard to tell if she was telling the truth or not. "What do you think, Lydia? You know her better than us." Rivet sounded like he would consider it. "The timing is off, but..we could use her." He smiled at the flower girl. "Tsk. I do indeed know her.. and I do not trust her for a second." She looked at her cohorts. "Besides, I am not sharing my profits with her." Yet at this point, Halliday stretched out her hand. "She has a dueldisk!" And in an instant she had placed a card on it, summoning Rose Tentacles. "Oh no you don't!" However, black feathers cut the plant down, stopping its vines from ensnaring any of the three. "Oh?" Lydia had summoned a monster of her own. "You had the armor disk-type as well.."

"A trick to get close to us eh?" Rivet chuckled, he and the other girl stood behind Lydia now. "In this case you will have to hold her down, while we make use of the command room." Blackstone was the only one who had brought her dueling tools with her. "Her friends will probably show up soon, I can not hold them all off." She was already hesitant to fight this one. "Do not worry, you have 'that card' now. But we should probably still seal their movements." The girl then pulled out a small remote. "This is NORAD we are talking about.. even if they disabled their security measures, it will be a simple task to turn them back online."

"If she betrayed us." The duelists had to find Madlyn as well now. "Cleo would definitely have said 'I told you so.'" Rose sighed. "If I were her, where would I go?" Colin came to a quick realization. "The command center!" But before they could act upon that epiphany, the alarms went off. "Now what?" And then all the doors closed up, the blastdoors sealed almost all exits as well. "No!" Colin banged on it as if it would help. "How do we get out of here?" Jackson asked a guard. "I dont know the codes to those doors, I fear.. The commander might.." But he was still inside the conference room, it did not look like he would try to leave it any time soon. "Tsk. We have to call for outside help. At least one of us is back in the car.." Colin took the phone and called their friend up. "Prospero? Yeah.. you are going to need to do something for us.."

The entrance to the command center had also been sealed off, though Rivet and the girl made sure to be on one side first. "This will keep them busy, now you can focus on her alone." Rivet winked and ran off. "Feh. I am beginning to wonder if they even want me." She turned back to Madlyn. "But I am to deep into it now. I can not let you mess things up for me, Mad.." She activated her dueldisk. "Though why are you doing this? This can not be the teachers plan.." The flower girl did the same. "No it is not. I have a new boss now. One that did not try to suck out my soul and feed it to a dark god." She drew six cards. "That I consider a very big upside to changing sides." She activated the spell card Black Whirlwind and summoned the Blackwing bird - Kochi the Daybreak(700/1500). "But enough talk. I am not sharing my plans with you.." Thanks to the Whirlwind she could add a Blackwing with less attack than Kochi to her hand. She took Jetstream the Blue Sky(0/800) "I want to end this quickly.." She placed a trap as well. "Kay.." Her turn was over.

Lydia's LP: 8000 Madlyns LP: 8000

_Blackwing - Kochi the Daybreak, 4/700/1500 Dark/Winged Beast/Tuner  
__This card can not be set. This card cannot be used as a synchro material monster the turn it is special summoned._

"But I have been watching you play, Lydia. And you did not change your style, did you?" Madlyn placed a trap card as well, and activated the continous spell card: World Tree. "Marcus gave it to me, I know. But as I said before, why discard such a powerful deck?" She snickered. "Because.. it has weak points. Cactus Bouncer.." But Halliday summoned out a large cactus monster(1800/300). "Oh I see what you are getting at. The Bouncer plant; when another plant on the field exists, neither player can special summon monsters." Madlyn nodded. "But you don't control another plant." She pointed out. "I know." Nevertheless Madlyn attacked. "Jetstream!" But Lydia discarded the Blue Sky bird from her hand. "His effect negates the destruction of a Blackwing." She however still took damage. "Oh.." Halliday sounded disappointed, she had a feeling what would come next. "Then I set a trap card, and end my turn." And her hunch proved true, when her opponent flipped her own trap before she could end her turn. "Heh, Delta Crow - Anti Reverse.."

Lydia's LP: 6900

"You think well when you want to Mad. You feared this specific trap, which I can only use one facedown traps while I control a Blackwing. So you tried to kill Kochi. Too bad.." The Delta storm wiped out Madlyns facedown DNA Surgery. "With that you wanted to turn my next Blackwing into a plant, allowing you to use the Bouncers effect." She had been one step ahead of the plant duelist. "Now it is my turn. I summon Fane the Steel Chain." She called the ninja blackwing(500/800) to her field. Adding Blackwing - The Etesian Sword(400/1600) to her hand with Black Whirlwind. "He can attack you directly, and switches 1 monster to defense mode when he does damage." The bird threw several feather shuriken at Madlyn, visibly scratching her skin. "You like that don't you?" At the same time the Cactus was switched to defense mode. "Now I can kill that plant with Kochi!" The Daybreak bird flew over to the spined plant, and crushed it with its talons. Though because of its demise, one counter was added to the World Tree. "I set another trap card."

Madlyns LP: 7500

"I did. But it feels different, coming from you." Madlyn touched her shoulder, the cut barely bled. "You are holding back.. I do not like that." She started her turn and drew a card. "Guess I will go for power instead of weak points. I summon Phoenixian Seed." The one-eyed seedling(800/0) came as the prelude to something dangerous. "The Phoenixians.." Madlyn immediately sacrificed it to special summon the Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis (2200/0) from her hand. "Burn.." The fiery plant attacked Fane the Steel Chain, reducing even its last feather to ashes. "Then after the damage step, Amaryllis will wilt away. But in death it hurts my enemies." The cluster plant exploded, sending flaming petals towards Lydia, hitting her for 800 damage. "I see what you mean." Her shoulder too was significantly burned by the attack. "That is painful." During the endphase Amaryllis also revived itself, by removing a plant, the Phoenixian Seed, in the cemetery from play. "But thankfully, I now have the means to ignore all kinds of pain. I will show you!"

Lydia's LP: 4400

"I summon Shura the Blue Flame. And with Black Whirlwind I add Bora the Spear to my hand, which I can then special summon!" Now she was free to special summon, so she called out the blue(1800/1200) and black(1700/800) winged beasts. "Here it comes; Synchro summon." She tuned the level 4 Shura with Kochi, who was a tuner of the same level. "Level eight?" Madlyn only knew of one Blackwing with that level, but she could not summon it with this little materials. "Yes, this is my new card: Blackwinged Dragon!" Instead of a bird, she had called upon a dragon(2800/1600), a black and red synchro with long silver wings. "Now then, Bora pierces through your Phoenixian.." The black bird used its spear to stab the Cluster to its second death. "His effect will reactive now." It exploded once again, sending fire towards Lydia. "And here it steps in, Damage Drain!." But at the last second the damage chose a new target, it was absorbed by the Dragon(2100/1600). "What?" Instead of removing lifepoints, it removed attackpoints. "Heh."

Madlyns LP: 5800

"Blackwinged Dragon's effect; he negates all effect damage done to me. And each drain adds a blackwing counter, weakening his power by 700." She then attacked directly with the Synchro. "Nova Stream!" And this time the blast packed enough force to push Halliday back. "Is that better? This is a special card designed to maximize the pain my opponent receives, and minimize the pain I take." She ended her turn again, laughing. ".. It is." Yet Madlyn stood up, shrugging of the attack. "But you did not want me to feel this. Did you?" She drew again. "What would you know?" Lydia rasped. "I know who you fought and lost to. I was beaten as well, and I did not like it.." In her turn she placed one monster facedown. " activate the World Tree!" Since the death of the Cluster, three counters existed on the spell. "I remove two counters to destroy one monster you control." Roots came out of the ground to drag the Blackwinged Dragon into an early grave. "Sadly, the one whose pain you are trying to negate.. is already dead. You did not to go this far.."

Madlyns LP: 3700

During her endphase she removed Cactus Bouncer from play to revive Amaryllis a second time. "Ggh. Are you trying to compare me with you! I am nothing like you." Lydia activated her trap. "Black Back, I revive one Blackwing with 2000 attack or less!" Kochi the tuner came back from the dead. "Do not think I only have one Dragon, I naturally made copies!" She normal summoned a level 4 Blackwing: Zephyros the Elite(1600/1000). "Synchro summon!" It and Kochi were tuned to form another Blackwinged Dragon(2800/1600). "Let's try this again!" Bora pierced Amaryllis just like it did last turn, and Blackwinged Dragon(2100/1600) absorbed the effect damage the dying Phoenixian sent her way. "You can not reach me, I am no longer just an apprentice!" Then the Synchro dragon unleashed a Nova blast on the facedown monster. ".." And when the smoke from that attack cleared, two new plants appeared on the field. "Huh?" Two tomato-monsters: Cherry Inmato(700/400) and Inmato(1400/800). "My facedown was a Cherry Inmato. When it is smothered, it can summon two more 'Inmatos'.

Madlyns LP: 2000

_Black Back, Normal Trap  
__Special summon 1 'Blackwing' monster from your graveyard with 2000 or less ATK. You cannot normal summon this turn._

"Meh. More fodder." Lydia placed a trap card and passed the turn to Madlyn. "No, not anymore. Now it is my turn again." Madlyn summoned the Twilight Rose Knight(1000/1000). His effect allowed her to special summon the Princess of Thorns (1100/900) from her hand. "Synchro summon?" Twilight and Cherry Inmato were both tuners. "Level 3 Knight and Level 3 Inmato, they form Splendid Rose. Level 2 Cherry Inmato and Level 4 Princess, they form Queen of Thorns." She synchro summoned the two female plant/humanoids, the rose warrior(2200/2000) and the flesheating plant queen(2200/1800). Thanks to the Princess, Rose also gained 500 LP. "Splendid Rose uses her effect!" Madlyn removed the Princess from play to half the attack of the Blackwinged Dragon(700/1600). "Then the World Tree. This turn I shall go for the brutal kill.." She removed two counters to empower the Queen of Thorns(3000/1800). "Here I come.." Her Synchros lashed out, the Queen cut Bora in half, while Splendid Rose tried to constrict the Dragon. "This is as far as it goes, Mad. Trap card: Synchro Deflector!" But Lydia played her trap. "When you attack a Synchro, I can redirect that attack. So die, Queen of plants!" The thorned vines strangled Rose's monster instead.

Madlyns LP: 3000 Lydia's LP: 3100

_Princess of Thorns, 4/1100/900 Light/Plant  
__Each player gains 1000 Life Points when they normal or special summon a Plant-type monster._

"Set card.. end turn." Again Madlyn revived Phoenixian Clutster Amaryllis, this time she removed Inmato. "You failed, Mad. You should have stuck to effects.." Lydia drew again. "Now I will end this. I activate Blackwinged Strafe." She discarded the Blackwing - Kalut that Black Whirlwind had given her last turn. "To destroy one defending monster." The spirit of Kalut struck down the fire plant, and for the third time Blackwinged Dragon drained its energy away(1400/1600), after its power had returned to normal. "Next, I return a card on my field to my hand, to resummon Zephyros from my cemetery." The Black Whirlwind disappeared, and the Elite bird came back. "This normally does 800 damage to me, but my Synchro absorbs that damage as well!" The dragon now had three counters(700/1600). "Now I shall activate his final effect. I can send all thse counters to another monster on the field!" The dragon roared and fired dark energy at Splendid Rose, to shock and weaken her(100/2000). "You take damage equal to the power reduction, you will feel the pain you planned to give me!" Madlyn was shocked as well, and forced to her knees. "Like I said, it is over. Enough time wasted.. Blackwinged Dragon(2800/1600), attack and destroy her last monster.."

Madlyns LP: 900

Meanwhile in the command room, it appeared that Rivet had handily taken out all the people there a bundle of sleeping gas. As he was wearing a mask of his own, while typing on various monitors. "And there we.. go." He finished his work. "Catherine. It is time to leave, open a path for us." His accomplice nodded, entering the codes needed. "The air should be safe by now." He took off the mask and took in a deep breath. "Ah much better." Catherine managed to secure an exit. "Nobody will try to stop us now. So contact Lydia and tell her to wrap things up." She said to the scarred man. "A pity though.." He scanned the room. "I would definitely have liked to take some souvenirs." He chuckled. "We will have all the 'souvenirs' we can get, once this mission is accomplished, Rivet. Stop wasting time." The two left the scene, sealing the door once again. On the large viewscreen on the wall the entire network of satellites across the globe was displayed. And a smaller screen below started a countdown, with only 150 minutes left.

And Rivet and Catherine returned to their getaway vehicle, a helicopter parked on the rooftop of the building outside the Cheyene mountains. "We will give her ten minutes. With her new card, Madlyn should fall quite easily." Rivet stepped into the chopper. "At least she got to use it on someone, a pity that most of our enemies chose to eliminate each other. Heh." They looked ready to make a clean getaway, were it not for the presence of one man. "Hello.. what is this?" Said a curious Prospero, who had been guarding the car in the parking lot. "Looks like those are the people they were talking about.."

(To be Continued in New Testamemt 097: Lessons Learned)

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Cactus Bouncer  
Cherry Inmato  
_Princess of Thorns_

_-  
_DNA Surgery

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Kochi the Daybreak (+)  
Blackwing - Jetstream the Blue Sky  
Blackwinged Dragon

-  
Black Back (+)_  
_Synchro Deflector  
(+) Based on cards used by Crow in YGO 5Ds (Before the card game made them real)


	97. Lessons Learned

**New Testament 097: Lessons Learned**

Lydia's LP: 3100 Madlyns LP: 900

"A trap?" Blackwinged Dragon(2800/1600) had fired a nova blast at the weakened Splendid Rose(100/2000). 'Synchro Deflector.." However Madlyn used the same card Lydia had used last turn. The deflected energy hit Zephyros instead. "I see.. you and I would at least have some cards in common." What with them having the same teacher. "But It still ends now, Mad. I activate the effect of Etesian of Two Swords." She discarded a monster from her hand. "When a Blackwing fails to kill its target, Etesian will become like a second sword, inflicting damage equal to the attacker.." Yet her graveyard slot spit the card back out. "Huh?" It rejected the Blackwing. "Why wont.. oh!" She realized her mistake. "Blackwinged Dragon is not a 'Blackwing' monster. I guess you lucked out, Mad." She placed a trap card and ended her turn.

"You do not know that card very well, do you?" Madlyn started her turn, switching Splendid Rose to defense mode. There was not much point in using her effect in her weakened state. "It was sitll enough toi bring you close to defeat. I can't lose with it." Lydia laughed. "It is a problem, yes. But it too has weak points." She placed one monster facedown and ended her turn. "Not reviving the Phoenixian Cluster?" Madlyn could have resummoned Amaryllis, but she chose not to as his effect would just give the Synchro another chance to use its burning effect. "And you set your monster, so I can not place any counters on it." The Splendid plant could not be weakened further either. "Very clever girl.." Lydia drew her next card, which was Cards for the Black Feathers. _"If I use this, I can not special summon this turn. But even if I revive Zephyros, I can not use the counter he would generate." _So she decided to use it. "I remove the Etesian in my hand from play, to draw two new cards." She had no use for a Second Sword anymore either.

She received a trap and a Blackwing monster. "First I reactivate Black Whirlwind. Then I summon Mistral Silver Shield." At that time Black Whirlwind sent the Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind(0/1600) to her hand. "Now I tribute Mistral for a trap card: Icarus Attack!" The silver-winged bird(100/1800) was sacrificed, allowing Icarus Attack to destroy two cards on the field. "I pick your World Tree, and whatever you have placed facedown." Lightning came from the ceiling, reducing the World Tree spell into smouldering splinters. "My facedown was Seed of Flame..." A fiery plant(1600/1200) was also burned to ashes. "His effect activates when you killed it with an effect.. I can revive one plant, and you get one token." She called the Cherry Inmato from her cemetery(700/400). "Tsk." Blackstone only got a small token seed(0/0). "That thing is an eyesore." Blackwinged Dragon destroyed the Tomato plant, which in turn special summoned another small(700/400) and regular(1400/800) Inmato from the deck. "And you are just as persistent.."

"So you think of me as a weed." Madlyn asked. "If you put it that way, yes. I just do not get what is going through that head of yours. Why are you even with Cable and his friends?" The more she thought about it, the weirded it sounded to her. "I do not know for sure. It just feels good.. Not just good to fight against those that bring pain, but to give it back to them." She activated the spell Fragrance Storm. "I tribute your token." By destroying a plant, she could draw a card. "Queen of Rose.." And if it was a plant, she could draw again. "Meh. Nice way of putting it. But you can not hurt me as long as I control this Synchro." Lydia snickered, her dragon was still the strongest card on the field. "Then I shall have to take it from you." Until she played the Mark of the Rose that is. "Hey.. hey!" The mark of a rose was carved into her dragons head. "This spell removes one plant in my grave, and takes control of your monster." She removed Seed of Flame, and Blackwinged Dragon moved over to her side. "And now, direct attack. Nova Stream.."

"You think I will let it end this way? I discard Ghibli the Searing Wind from my hand!" A sixwinged black bird appeared on the field. "When I am attacked directly, I can summon this monster from my hand!" The defending Blackwing took the blast for its master. "Ha, you missed your chance. And Mark of the Rose will return control to me during your endphase." And then she could really end this game. "Then I shall have to keep it from you, permanently. I sacrifice Blackwinged Dragon for Rose Tentacles!" To Lydia's dismay, her ace card was replaced by a the tentacle monster(2200/1200). "Thet card again eh. Well it can say hello to my trap: Bottomless Trap Hole!" She tried to sink the summoned queen into a pit. "Inmato's effect." But Halliday could negate a trap that targeted a plant by tributing Inmato. "Damn you." The Trap Hole disappeared. "I also draw two new cards." Madlyn placed one of those facedown. "Your move." She had not touched Lydia, but she had removed her immunity to pain. "Enough of this.."

"You forced me to do this." Lydia started typing in some buttons on her dueldisk. "Draw!" And she received a really good spell in her draw phase. "I activate Beginning of the End. When I have seven or more dark monsters in my cemetery, I can remove five of those to draw three new cards." She removed four Blackwings and the Dragon to drew three more times. "I activate the effect of Gust the Backblast, special summoning it when I control no monsters." The green and blue feathered bird warrior(900/1400) was her first Blackwing. "Then I activate Against Wind, I can reclaim a dead Blackwing, taking damage equal to its attackpoints." She took back Kochi the Daybreak(700/1500), losing 700 attackpoints. "I summon it and tune it with Gust!" Thus she tuned the level 2 Gust with the level 4 Kochi. "Level 6 Blackwing: Armed Wing(2300/1000). This monster has a piercing effect, and he attacks your Cherry Inmato!" That meant, if his attack hit, Madlyn would lose 1900 lifepoints. "Trap card: Bamboo Scrap. I tribute Cherry Inmato to give you 2 tokens."

Lydia's LP: 2400

But she averted that by splitting the Tomato up into two bamboo tokens(800/500) "Ggh. You still have another monster in defense.." Armed Wing redirected his gun to Splendid Rose. "When he attacks, he gains 500 attackpoints." He(2800/1000) fired his gun, shooting straight through the Rose warrior and her master. Madlyn barely escaped defeat that time. "Just give it up, Mad. I was always the better apprentice, had the better cards. It was I that surpassed the teacher.." She placed a trap card down. "Maybe. But now you have a new if that is all you need.." Halliday drew, and summoned the tuner-plant, Spore(400/800), to her field. "And I suppose you want to tell me now that having friends is so much better." She scoffed. "No. I just find it sad that you still need someone to tell you to fight. Synchro summon.." Madlyn wasted no more time, she combined the level 1 Spore with the level 6 Rose Tentacles. "Black Rose Dragon." She called out her ace level 7 Synchro(2400/2000). "If I attack the tokens now. I win. But you have a trap.."

Madlyns LP: 100

"Black Rose Guide!" Black Rose used its field-wipeout effect. "Gah.." Black Rose Dragon destroyed all cards on the field; Black Whirlwind, Armed Wing, the tokens, even the dragon. Even Lydia's trap, Fake Feather, was destroyed before it could be used. Lydia was defenseless. "And now.. Foolish Burial: I discard a card from my deck." The flower girl sent Dandylion "Dandylions effect, when he goes to his grave, he leaves two tokens behind." Two level 1 fluffy tokens (100/100) appeared. "Then I activate the effect of Spore. It revives itself by eating another plant, absorbing its level stars." Spore removed another Inmato from play, becoming a level 5 tuner(400/800). "Again?" Madlyn immediately synchro summone a second Black Rose Dragon from her extra deck. "I too have copies. Of course." The dragon released a flare of energy towards Lydia. "I discard my second Ghibli from my hand!" She summoned the Searing Wind bird she had added to her hand with Black Whirlwind, when she summoned Kochi. "It shields me again!" The flames dispersed.

"You think you can beat me, with the card Marcus gave you? I will not let you!" She fiddled with her dueldisk again. "Yes, this is what I need. I set a trap card and end my turn!" She had placed Blackwing Backlash facedown. Since she had more then five Blackwings in her cemetery, she could destroy all monsters if Madlyn dared to attack her directly. "You even resort to abusing the dueldisk?" By now Halliday noticed her 'lucky' draws. "Complain all you like. Simmons' first rule was that everything is fair in this game. if it scares you, just skip your turn. Eheheh." She was confident Madlyn would not be able to win without cheating herself, and she was not the person to do that. ".." Madlyn drew. "I never skip.. a turn. If I can attack, I will. But.. I will not be fooled." She activated the spell: Mirror Garden. "The Mirror Garden?"

_Mirror Garden, Normal Spell  
__Special summon 1 plant-type monster with 1000 atk or less from your hand, deck or graveyard.  
__Then special summon 1 'Mirror seed Token" that has the same original level, type, attribute, ATK, and DEF as the summoned monster, to your opponent's side of the field._

"I special summon Cursed Fig from my deck, while you gain a seedling of your own." A fig-fruit(200/200) opposed a glasslike seed(200/600). "Planning to use the effect of Black Rose Dragon? You can not inflict enough damage that way." Blackstone smirked, until she realized the seed was in attack mode. "I attack." And Cursed Fig was the one to strike first, killing itself and the token in one exchange. "When Cursed Fig dies. It seals two traps on the field." Cursed roots came from the floor, dragging Blackwing Backlash down under. "No!" That was her last shield. "Madlyn. We can still make a deal, I will share my profits." All she had left were words. "I do not want to be a follower to anyone anymore.." The dragon prepared another flare attack. "Wait... Think about it." She could not affect her decision, the attack was fired. "Gyyaahhh!" And the flames surrounded her, as she screamed out loud. Afterwards Lydia dropped to the floor, knocked out by the immense pain. "...I am sorry, Lydia. But this is the only way I know how to teach people.."

Lydia's LP: 0

A few minutes later, she was reunited with the others. The blast doors were eventually forced open, though the culprits had long since left the scene. "Great. You had to knock her out?" Lydia was still unconscious, so they could not very well interrogate her. And they were the only ones that seemed to care, neither the soldiers nor the guards bothered to inspect the command room. "How about it Cable?" Fraser alone had the knowledge that could tell him what Rivet and Catherine had done, though it took him some time to simply break in. "It seems her friend has set up a program that connects the Marcus's satellite to the entire GPS network. Theoretically that allows them to transmit the beam of that Orichalcos machine across the world. But for some reason data is being sent to the satellite first, and that upload will finish in an hour." They saw the same image still, the entire network on display and the countdown already down to 62 minutes. "I can not stop whatever it is doing, I have been locked out of the system." They could not shut it down.

"Whoever Marcus's outside contact was, the one that payed for the show and helped him escape the camp. He must also be the one that sent these people here. And they did their homework, this is an attack of a genius.." Unfortunately Marcus remembered little, and not even he had discovered the identity of this master. "By the way has anyone seen or heard from Prospero? You asked him for help, but I havent seen him at all." They all shook their heads. "He promised us to look out for anyone leaving the tunnel, but.. wait." As fate would have it, about this time Colins phone went off. "Yes?" He answered it, and his jaw dropped. "You are where?" He listened intently. Finally he turned to the others. "You will not believe it, but that guy drove all the way to Denver just to follow a helicopter. And now he says he found where the people were going." He panicked because he did not want to lose this chance. "Yes I know you need both hands at a steering wheel, but you still could have called!" Colin yelled back at him. "Now where are you?"

As it turned out, the helicopter headed for one of the many skyscrapers in the city. And once they arrived Rivet and Catherine headed to a large office at the top floor. "It went without a hitch Master." Rivet smiled. "Aside from us losing Lydia I mean. But she knows too little to endanger our operation." Catherine added. "That is fine. Her only task would have been to take over the role of Marcus and to be our leading duelist against our enemies. But it seems the dark one has lost to many of her accomplices to interfere." The master spoke from behind his chair. "However.. there is another problem." He placed his cigar in his tray and pushed a button that revealed a screen on the wall. "Did you make sure you were not being followed?" He asked, though he already had the answer. "What?" The camera had caught a very familiar person, who was now snooping the lower floors. "That fortune teller, he is here?" Rivet had to admit, he had not been too careful. "I thought he wad them all trapped sir, I did not know they found Prospero again.." He apologized. "That is okay, Rivet. He will be too late to stop us. And.. he can be of assistance to our organization too.." The master laughed. "I think I should meet this man, face to face."

(To be Continued in New Testament 098: Seventh Son)

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Seed of Flame  
Dandylion  
Cursed Fig

-  
Foolish Burial  
_Mirror Garden_

**New Cards used by Lydia Blackstone  
**Blackwing - Etesian of Two Swords_  
_Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind

-  
Beginning of the End  
Against Wind

-  
Icarus Attack  
Bottomless Trap Hole


	98. Seventh Son

**New Testament 098:**** Seventh Son**

"All the way in Denver. We wont make it there in time, not before the countdown ends." Jackson looked at the screen, they had 55 minutes left. "I am trying to get in. But at this rate our only option will be to shut down NORAD." And Cable was not even sure if that worked. "Just tell him to keep us updated, and tell us everything he finds out about that place." Doe nodded and relayed the information. "Right, got it." On the other line Prospero was keeping contact. "Ehm excuse me. What is it you people do here?" He asked one of the men in suits walking across the lobby. "This our firm, SmallWave Inc. We deal in technology and multimedia exchanges. Or rather we did until now." He was eager to answer. "I see.. but who runs this place?" He figured the boss of this place could be connected to the NORAD attackers. "Sir Hammond of course. As luck would have it, he is visiting this branch today." Sairve found that enough information. "Thanks." He tried to tell it to Doe. "Huh?" However the line had gone dead. "That's.. discomforting."

"He hung up?" On the other end, Doe only heard beeps. But his concern would go to another person. "Hey guys. Lydia is waking up!" Just then Rose came by to tell them that. "But it is not good news.." She brought Doe back to the hallway where she had previously been knocked out. "What do you mean, you do not know anything?! You can not even tell us the names of the people you work with?!" Now she just stood there, staring lifelessly at a furious Colin. "I am sorry Sairve. I do not know what you are talking about. I am here with Marcus on official business." To him it just looked like she was denying everything. "You.." But Jack grabbed his shoulder. "She is not lying.. calm yourself Colin." He then looked at Jane Doe, who had been silent throughout the day. "Jane. Would I be right in saying that she was affected too?" The female Doe nodded slowly. "What is going on?" Rose was confused. "She is shadowless." Jane explained. "What? How.?!" Now Colin understood her behavior. "She was knocked out. It was because she slept.."

_"Maybe I should leave.." _Prospero started to get worried. _"But what can I do now? They say the place is counting down, I have little time to.." _He shook his head. "I have to press on!" He shouted before stepping into the nearest elevator. "The top floor should be good." He pressed the buttons and was on his way. "..I will just ask about the helicopter. They can not deny that exists and then.." However the lift stopped one floor before he reached the top. "Hey, that is not what.." And the doors opened, revealing a large and empty conference room. "Joe Caruso, I presume?" Empty aside from three people. Two of which he recognized. "I am impressed you managed to follow us, Caruso." He carefully stepped into the room. "It was not that hard." He spoke, looking to his left and right. "Only one helicopter in the entire sky, and a slow one too. You should at least use something that can outrun a car." A chuckle came from the other side of the room. "I like your style, Caruso." The third man was hidden a slide board. "My friends prefer to call me Prospero, then again you aren't a friend of mine. Whoever you are." He stopped in front of the table, at which point the man revealed himself. "You could be. Please take a seat.. I am sure you have a lot of questions.."

".." He did not take the seat, but he did have questions. "Are you the one that helped Marcus?" The man, tall, 40 years old, sporting a goatee, smirked. "Cat is out of the bag." He replied casually. "Then what are you doing? With NORAD I mean.." This he wanted to know the most. "Let me ask you this: have you never wondered why you were not affected, Caruso? Or for that matter why me and my friends here are not like the others?" He pointed to Rivet and Catherine. "Not because you were chosen, or because you have a strong spirit. No it is because of Raness." Prospero gasped, but wanted to hear more. "You see a name has power, especially that of a Pharaoh whose name had never been recorded. Few know his true name, us lucky few.. We knew because of Marcus. Now we are willing to share that name with the rest of the world. That is why we attacked NORAD, to connect the Orichalcos satellite to the network and force that information into all the worlds souls." Prospero just blinked. "You expect me to trust you, to trust your plan?"

"For all I know you are trying to use that satellite to steal souls...I do not even know who you are." The mystery man still smiled and sat down as well. "I am Hammond, the CEO of Smallwave Inc. I merely helped out Marcus with his legal problems, because he was the last surviving member of Tum'aga. That company made a lot of scientific discoveries, which interested me. But due to the blackout of the world, I was forced to rely on my associates here. Rivet Calaway and Catherine Huxley. My bodyguard and personal adviser. And now you can join that circle.." Catherine suddenly typed something into her wristwatch. "I foresee good times for Smallwave, once the world is saved thanks to my operation. We will be seen as heroes.. and you will be too. All you have to do is call your friends, and tell them you found nothing here..."

The phone made a small noise, indicating that the connection had been restored. "..A hero?" This Hammond person must have known, how obsessed Prospero was with that word. "Yes. I heard how Marcus failed to give you the glory you deserved. But now that you are back, I can do what he could not. Make you a part of history." He continued to smile his kind smile, yet Prospero felt something considerably odd about all of this. "..Jackson?" He placed the thing against his ears and spoke. "Prospero, is something wrong?" Doe asked him. "I.. I just wanted to tell you that.." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "The master is the owner of this company!" Before he shouted out loud. But the static quickly returned. "Prospero, hello? Hello!?" And the fortune teller now faced a disgruntled looking CEO. "You disappoint me." He took off his coat, and loosened his tie. "But I expected as much. And it will not make a difference, they can not stop the upload. I hired worlds best technicians to make that code, and they never even knew.."

"What are you going to do?" Prospero knew he was trapped, the lift doors were closed. And jumping out of windows would be suicidal, even if it had not been the top floor. "I will just have to make you submit to me." Rivet placed a dueldisk on his masters arm. "A duel?" Apparently even a CEO could be a duelist. "Why do you think I bought out Marcus's company in secret? I have been leeching from Outerdecks profits for quite some time. I know a thing or two about the game that had the whole world in its grip." The fortune teller also has his dueldisk, so he could defend himself. "Are you sure about this master? I could duel him.." Rivet also seemed eager, his hands were shaking. "No. I will do this myself. It has been to long." He inserted his deck into his device and stepped away from the table. "Duel me, Prospero. I want to see how you do without your powers of prediction. I want to see if you are at all worthy of being in my presence." They both drew their cards. "Not as if I have a choice... I accept your challenge!"

Prospero's LP: 8000 Hammond's LP: 8000

"Good. I shall go first. I activate the field spell card: Wetlands. All water and aqua monsters of level 2 and lower gain 1200 attackpoints." This effect he demonstrated with his first monster of the game. "I summon the Dupe Frog." A frog whose body was covered with question marks, he(1300/2000) gained a considerable boost from the wet grassfields. "That's a nice combo yes. But is this how you want to open the game?" The fortune teller asked, as Hammond ended his turn right afterwards. "There is no trick here.. attack me if you must." Of course his Dupe Frog had a special effect. "... Then I will, I summon Pandaborg." Nevertheless Prospero would attack it, with his cybernetic panda(1700/1400). "Take it down!" The borg stomped on the malenlightened frog, squishing it entirely. "Thanks." But this allowed Hammond to add another 'Frog' monster to his hand. He took a Des Frog from his deck. "You know..." Prospero placed a trap card. "For a CEO, I expected you to use a different deck. Frogs are not entirely dignified.."

Hammonds LP: 7600

"Appearances can be deceiving, Prospero.." He started his turn. "By discarding a water monster from my hand, I can summon the Swap Frog." He threw away a T.A.D.P.O.L.E monster card, to special summon a the red/yellow demon frog(2200/500). "That one is level two as well?" This time the boost from Wetlands broke the usual limit for lowlevel monsters. "When summoned I can send one water monster to the grave." He discarded another tadpole from his deck. "And there is also a normal summon this turn, I call the Unifrog." Next to the devil amphibian was a horned amphibian(1600/400). "This card can attack directly.. Observe." The little blue frog jumped across the floor, stabbing Prospero with his horn. "Ack.." He could not use his trap against direct attacks, and soon he would never be able to use it. "When Unifrogs attack is successful, and another frog exists on my field, one of your traps or spells will be destroyed." His hidden Psi-Curse shattered, a trap that could have killed Swap Frog had it attacked first. "Attack.." It was now free to jump on Pandaborg and flatten it. "But when you kill it, I can pay 800 LP to summon a new Psychic!" So he special summoned the tentacle-warrior Grapple Blocker(1200/2000). "Ah.. I end my turn then."

Prospero's LP: 5100

"In this turn, I tribute the Blocker to tribute summon Storm Caller. And he attacks your direct attacker." A floating psychic(2300/2000) with a satellite dish attached to its back appeared and fired a beam from its dish to destroy the Unifrog. "Monsters destroyed by Storm Caller are returned to the top of the deck however." The horned amphibian went to the deck slot, Hammond knew this. "..Marcus must have told you about this deck as well then. In that case." Prospero placed two trap cards facedown. "Your move." Hammond nodded. "Yes, I did hear. Though by an large, most new decks escape me. For instance you will not see any Synchros in the extra decks of me and my associates. However..my combos are still rather lethal. But first.." He summoned the Ronintoadin, a samurai frog(1300/2000). "I activate the third effect of Swapfrog. He sends one monster on the field back to my hand, to allow the normal summon of a second frog." The demon sent itself to the hand. "I sacrifice the ronin-toad for the frog of death: Des Frog."

Hammonds LP: 6900

From his deck appeared not one but three pale green frogs(1900/0). "Hey.. did you just summon three monsters?" Prospero thought that was against the rules. "Indeed.. When Des Frog is tribute summoned, I can special summon as many copies as there are Tadpoles in my cemetery." He had sent two for the first and second effect of SwapFrog, so he called out two more. "Next I activate Moray of Greed. I return two water monsters to my deck, to draw three cards." He sent Unifrog and Swapfrog back. "..Perfect." And one of three cards was just what he desired. "Now to finish this duel. I activate Des Croaking; while three Death frogs are on my field, the spell shall destroy all your cards!" The three frogs sang their song of death. "Whoa!" His field was in danger, he hastily activated both his trap cards. "Psychic Trigger and Psychic Soul!" And suddenly his lifepoints shot up, and his handsize doubled. "Hmm?" Psychic Trigger removed Pandaborg and Grapple Blocker in his cemetery, giving him two draws in return. Psychic Soul sacrificed Storm Caller, giving the owner 300 lifepoints for each level of the tributed Psychic. "So you have lasting power after all. Regardless... triple direct attack." All three frogs jumped on top of Prospero. "Mmph!"

Prospero's LP: 1200

"Close call." Rivet chuckled. "Too close." Prospero managed to stand up again, after that awkward series of attacks. "Don't feel like that again." He drew a card. "I summon Krebons(1200/400) in attack mode. Then I activate the field spell: Brain Research Lab." The wetlands were replaced by a dark laboratory setting. "I see. You are trying to stall for time now. But you forget that time is the one thing your friends do not have." Hammond started his turn. "Triple attack.." His three frogs tried to crush the Psychic tuner. "I activate his effect, I can pay 800 LP to negate an attack on Krebons. And thanks to the Laboratory, I can forego the payments by adding counters to it instead." Three counters were added to the brain researcher field, and all three Death frogs were pushed back by telekinetic forces. "Even if it takes forever, I have to win." Hammond merely grinned. "Noble sentiments. Then again this is why you are here.." He placed one trap and one monster facedown. "You wanted to be a hero after all. That is why you came alone.. Is it not?"

"I came to stop you and your plans. I do not care how I look." He summoned the Genetic Woman, a machine/panther/human hybrid(1700/1200). "Genetic Womans effect: I pay 1000 LP to add a removed Psychic to my hand." Of course he instead added a 4th counter to his Lab, just to add Pandaborg to his hand.. "Even if it saves us all, I can not trust that kind of power in your hands. I can not!" Genetic Woman attacked his facedown monster. "Flip Flop Frog." Unfortunately the set card was a flip effect frog(500/200), when flipped the enemy would have to take back monsters, equal to the number of frogs on the field. "Damn it." Both Krebons and the Genetic one left the field. "You trusted Marcus however. It seems that without your Tauk, you can not trust anyone, Joe Caruso. How sad. To me.. you are not that interesting after all."

(To be Continued in New Testament 099: Denial)

**New Cards used by 'Prospero' Joe Caruso  
**Storm Caller  
Grapple Blocker  
Genetic Woman

-  
Psychic Trigger  
Psychic Soul

**Cards used by CEO Hammond  
**Dupe Frog  
T.A.D.P.O.L.E.  
Swap Frog  
Unifrog  
RoninToadin  
Des Frog  
Flipflop Frog

-  
Wetlands  
Moray of Greed  
Des Croaking


	99. Denial

**New Testament 099: Denial**

Prospero's LP: 1200 Hammonds LP: 6900

On one field were three Death Frogs(1900/0), on the other almost nothing, Prospero was in trouble. "I am not defenseless yet, I can use Brain Research Lab to summon another Psychic!" He called out his Pandaborg(1700/1400), adding a fifth counter to the field. "Then I set two trap cards and my turn." Hammond drew again. "Are you trying to stall forever, son?" He attacked with all three frogs, the first smacked the Panda away with its long tongue. "No. I am preparing. I activate Telepathic Power." But before it died, the cyborg's telepathy was boosted, allowing it to mentally crush its killer. "This trap destroys a monster that killed my Psychic, and I gain lifepoints equal to its attack." The frog died, and Prospero gained 1900 LP. "That will not be enough to survive two direct attacks." He was about to strike again. "But you forget that Pandaborg can special summon a Psychic when it dies." Out of his deck came a golden machine(0/2200). "I call the Mind Protector; who stops attacks from all monsters with 2000 atk or less!"

Prospero's LP: 2900

The two frogs could not move. "Hmm. You did slay one frog, but I can replace it. A monster in my grave can be summoned if I remove a Frog from play." He removed the Dupe Frog and revived RoninToadin(100/2000) in defense mode. "This monsters name also counts as 'Des Frog'." He ended his turn. "Setting up for another Croaking? Ggh, I wont allow that." He drew a card. "When I control a Psychic, I can summon this level 6 card without tributes: I call Armored Axon Kicker who will kill that Toad." The wire-connected psychic(2200/1800) was normal summoned, and he fired a beam of psychic energy at the Ronin. "Trap card: Froggy Forcefield." The energy was however blocked. "When you attack a Frog, all your monsters will die!" The forcefield was about to push it all back. "That trick wont beat the power of the mind: Mind Over Matter!" He activated his counter trap. "I tribute Mind Protector, to negate your card!" But the barrier shattered, and the Kicker was allowed to kill the Toad. "Tsk." Though the attack hurt Prospero as well.

Prospero's LP: 2850

"Wait, how did he lose life?" Rivet was confused. "This is the effect of Axon Kicker. I take damage equal to half the attack of a monster he kills, and then he revives a Psychic with less attack then the damage." He took 50, so he could bring back the tributed Protector(0/2200), who did not even have attackpoints. "Then I use Brain Research Lab to summon the Krebons(1200/400) in my hand. And I tune it together with Axon." The level 2 tuner and the level 6 Kicker became one being, the level 8 Thought Ruler Archfiend(2700/2300). "Then I set one trap card facedown, and pass the turn to you." But he played that trap before Hammond could even do anything. "In your draw phase I activate it, Psychic Overload. I send three Psychics in my hand back to the deck, to draw two cards." He returned the Kicker, Pandaborg and Storm Caller. "Draw power and special summoning is your forte it seems.." Meanwhile all Hammond could do, thanks to the Mind Protector, was setting one monster and switching his death frogs to defense mode.

"Looks like I am finally getting an edge in here.." He resummoned the Genetic Woman(1700/1200). "I use her effect to add the removed Psychic Snail to my hand." By now he had eight counters on his field card and he was about to have more. "I sacrifice her, to bring out the Final Psycho Ogre." A tentacle-covered ape(2200/1700) was tribute summoned. "When he kills a monster, I can add a Psychic to my hand by paying 800 LP. And now I attack!" Of course when his Ogre killed one of the two frogs, he instead added a tenth counter to the Brain Researching spell. "I add Krebons to my hand again. And now.." The final Des Frog was cut in pieces by the Archfiend synchro. "You are out of death bringers, Hammond." He smiled and placed one card facedown. "You are not in any position of confidence, son." He drew a card, and his grin widened. "You left yourself one large weak spot.. I activate Wetland.." Catherine gasped. "I see. If he uses that, Prospero's field will be removed. And all ten counters will release their pent up energy."

Prospero was about to lose 10000 LP at once. "I knew this might happen. Thank god I added this to my deck.. quickplay spell card: Counter Cleaner!" A jar appeared in the room, sucking up all ten counters. "This spell removes all counters of any kind. Now I wont have to take any damage." He chuckled. "Then this again becomes a game of brute force. I remove one Death frog to revive RoninToadin again." This time the samurai amphibian(1300/2000) was empowered by the wet fields. "Then I call out Unifrog." The direct attacker was there too. "I know your Mind Protector will keep both locked down. But.." He also flipped his facedown, a black/white angel/demon toad(1200/2000). "Substitoad. It can substitute monsters on my field for Frogs in my deck. I tribute the Ronin to call out Submarine Frog." His swordwielder was replaced by a diver-suit amhibian(2400/600). "It has more then 2000 atk?" Mind Protector could not stop that. "That, and it pierces as well." The frog blasted forward with its propeller-powered spear, blowing right through the golden Psychic. "Ugh.. and now.." Now Unifrog could attack too, and it did by stabbing Prospero in the foot with its horn. "One more attack like this will finish you." He set a trap card. "Our game is at an end."

Prospero's LP: 1050

"What makes you think, I will let that horned thing attack again?" He activated a spell card. "I think it is time you saw a card Marcus did not give me. I activate Polymerization!" Thought Ruler Archfiend started to glow. "Fusion?" As did the Grapple Blocker in his hand. "Yes a fusion of a synchro and a psychic..." He merged the Archfiend and the Blocker. "I call out the combined form of both: Ultimate Axon Kicker!" What appeared was very much the combined form of the demon and the psykicker, a level ten fusion(2900/1700). "That card.. Cable gave it to you, didn't he?" He asked. "Yes he did. Like I said I am not doing this for fame or for my own sake anymore. Now I duel for my friends" He entered the battle phase. "I read that your Substitoad has an annoying effect: I can not kill Frogs while it lives. So that's who I target!"

The Ogre aimed his tentacles at the toad. "Then you will be disappointed." But Hammond flipped a trap, Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord. "For this entire turn, level 3 or lower water monsters can not be killed!" A wall of water shielded the toad and frogs. "What?" Though Hammond still took damage himself, Substitoad did not die. "Damn it." He still attacked with his Ultimate Psychic, doing more damage by hitting the toad again. "I see where this is going.. I summon Krebons!" In main phase 2 he called out the tuner for a third time. "Synchro summon; Psychic Lifetrancer!" It and the level 5 Ogre were combined as well, into the level 7 female cyborg(2400/2000). "Ah.." She used her effect immediately. "I remove Psycho Ogre and Genetic Woman from play, and gain 1200 lifepoints!" His life shot up. "I set a trap card and end my turn." Now at least Unifrog could not end the duel with another direct attack. _"Note to self. Put more than one Unifrog in my deck." _Hammond sighed. "Draw." Though his smile returned when he saw the spell he received.

Prospero's LP: 2250 Hammonds LP: 4200

He no longer needed a second Unifrog. "I reuse the effect of Substitoad; I substitue Submarine Frog and itself with two Dupe Frogs." Two more malenlightened amphibians(1300/2000) appeared. "Then I remove Submarine Frog from play to revive Ronin Toadin again." Prospero flinched. Only now did he see the other effect of Dupe Frog. "They count as 'Des Frog' too?" Hammond nodded. "Indeed. I control three 'Des Frogs'." Two dupes and one Ronin. "So I.. can use this!" He activated Des Croaking again. "Oh yes.." Rivet and Catherin watched with excitement, as the psychics were destroyed by the frogs song. "Oh.. hey?" However the wipe-out left one alive; Ultimate Axon Kicker. "Why is the fusion not dead?" Now Prospero did the smirking. "Heh, this one.. can not be destroyed by effects." Hammond looked stunned. "..You still.." Unifrog attacked directly anyway. "You still can not beat me son. The Dupe Frogs have a third effect: they will protect any other monster as long as they live." Meaning he had created a lockdown on attacks on monsters.

Prospero's LP: 650

"It is over, Prospero." Next turn Unifrog would finish the game. "No. I can not give up. I can not let my friends down." It looked hopeless, nevertheless he drew his card. "...Psycho Sword!" He also activated it. "This equip spell gives my Psychic more power, equal to the difference between our lifepoints!" Though the sword's boost was limited to 2000 (Ultimate Axon Kicker: 4900/1700). "What is the point of all this, you can not hit me with it." That much was true, he could not even kill one Dupe Frog as long as the other existed. "I have a way around your defenses.." He activated his trap card, Battle Teleportation. "Oh! Master, that card is.." Catherine recognized it. "I know." It allowed a single Psychic to attack directly. "If I attack you now, you will lose." He knew Hammond had nothing that could stop him. "To think that you would be one step ahead of me. Even without your Tauk, you predict the future well." Yet he chose to do something unexpected. "Very well. The game is over." He turned off his dueldisk, the holograms faded. "You win."

Hammonds LP: 0

"What is going on here? Are you letting me go or something?" He was not sure why he conceded when he would have lost anyway. "Oh no, do not misunderstand. I would have liked to win, but I did not need to. However losing to someone like you, I did not want to risk that." He placed the disk back on the table. "Why?" Prospero asked, not letting his leave his wrist just yet. "The risk of becoming 'one of them'. While we knew how to avoid getting caught by the darkness, there was no way of telling what could lead to 'infection.'" And now the fortune teller got why he was allowed to duel him. "You wanted to test that on me, huh?" Hammond sat down again. "It does not matter anymore." He clicked a button and a screen turned on. "Oh!" It was a counter, with less than a minute to spare. "My main objective was to delay you..and it worked. Any second now the satellite upload will be finished. And I will control this world." He could not help showing a smug expression. "Heh. You were right about one thing, Caruso. I did not have entirely benign purposes in mind. That Orichalcos satellite will do more then save us all.." Ten seconds left. "It will give me domination over all souls! They will have to accept me as their ruler!" One second remained..

"........." And a few seconds passed. "Hey.." Yet nothing happened. "Master. Is it not supposed to.." Rivet looked out the windows, and saw no change in behavior. "...what is going on?" Even Prospero did not know what was going on. "This.. this can not be." Nobody was shocked as the CEO however. "You are sure you installed everything correctly!" He yelled at Catherine. "I am sure, sir. We checked it beyond any reasonable doubt." Her apologies did not help his mood. "You also thought you were not followed, how.." But then the phone on the table went off. "Who?" He did not expect any calls. "Rgh. Who is this?" He asked the person on the other side, putting it on speaker. "This is Cable.. Cable Fraser. I assume you are sir Hammond?" His eyes widened. "What? How did you get this number?" This also did not calm his temper. "Your assistant gave it to me. Helpful person really. Then again the entire world is.." Fraser spoke rather calmly himself. "But what I came to tell you is this.. we stopped the program you installed."

"Not possible!" Hammond stammered loudly. "The worlds top technicians made that program, nobody could crack it." And yet it happened. "Oh they did work on it. But they were also willing to help fix it. You see, after a quick checkup of your company and its transactions. I found a number of 'technicians' that could have made such an elaborate code. After that it was a simple as calling them, and asking them if they knew what was at work here. The third man we reached knew enough to break into the system and uninstall the uploader." Hammond had not counted on this. Those technicians were bribed into secrecy, but with their changed attitudes it was entirely possible that they would just hand out their information. "Your undoing was trusting on the sins of humanity. You knew how to take advantage of the current world, but you did not remember the downsides." The CEO's left eye twitched. "You have doomed us all. You have to reinstate that upload right now! Or I wil..Or I will kill your friend here!" He shouted and looked at Prospero.

Yet before he give proper credence to his threat, a strange thing to all concerned occurred. "What?" As he moved to grab Prospero, a jolt ran down his spine. "Urgh, why cant I.." His legs and arms would not move anymore, in fact he could not move at all. "Master! His shadow!" Catherine saw that it happened as soon as he stepped in the shadow the duelist was casting. Even without the sun, his office lights could create their own. "No.. why." And then a figure emerged from the darkness. It did not speak, it merely smiled. "Are you.. helping me?" It turned towards him stretching out a long slimy finger to Prospero. "!" And in the same heartbeat he saw something, he saw a glimpse of a spectacular event. "This is.... the next day.." Six priests and one king, seated on a throne. The world itself had been turned to pure gold. "And that is.." And just like that, the images stopped. "What the hell happened?" When he came too, Hammond was lying on the floor. And as for the fortune teller? He realized that he had just seen the future..

..without the Tauk.

(To be Continued in New Testament 100: God's in her Kingdom)

**New Cards used by 'Prospero' Joe Caruso  
**Final Psycho Ogre  
Ultimate Axon Kicker

-  
Counter Cleaner  
Polymerization  
Psychic Sword

-  
Telepathic Power

**Cards used by CEO Hammond  
**Substitutoad  
Submarine Frog

-  
Froggy Forcefield  
Aegis of the Dragon Ocean Lord


	100. God's in her Kingdom

**New Testament 100: God's in her Kingdom...**

Amidst the white expanse, a fierce duel of elements reached its conclusion. "How.." Six colors once flared up strongly, only to be snuffed out by a colorless foe. "How could you.. hit us?" And now all six priests were forced to kneel at the feet of their enemy. "We control all of nature. We guard all energy.." And Seneska stood above them, gloating. **"I already said, poor little Zevgar, my spirit is the banisher of elements. I have evolved beyond the limit of the physical; we are becoming one with the power of Alkahest itself." **She kicked him over and walked towards another priest, the one dressed in gold and white. **"As for you.." **She grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up. **"Seeing as how I even overpowered you, I shall take your title for myself." **She smiled as her armor suddenly changed, shifting from pure black to black and golden tones. "Senes..." The man spoke her name in between coughs. **"You still place value in that name?" **She let him fall to the crystal floor. **"Then I shall make you value everything else."**

......

"Master?" Back at Smallwave Inc. the CEO of the company was not moving. "What did you do to him?" Rivet and Catherine had seen the shadow come from Prospero's body, it had to be his doing. "I would not know." But he was as puzzled as everyone else in the room. "Don't tell me.. you defeated your shadow?" Catherine shivered. "Ehr yes?" He replied, not knowing entirely why they asked. "That might explain it. Tsk. This is bad. If the plan fails, the master will ascend without us." Catherine sounded worried. Rivet not so much. "Forget about him. We need to get out of here, before his shadow gets us too.." Before the girl could protest, he took her gun and used it to shoot down the office lights. "Hey, wait a second!" Prospero could not see where they were going. He stumbled over the body of Hammond even. "Prospero? Are you alright?" By now he realized that the speaker was still on. "Cable? Did you.. hear what happened?" Fraser must have been listening. "Uhm. Never mind, I am fine. Though I think you should come over here quickly."

Two hours later, after clearing up the mess at the NORAD systems, everyone came to the Smallwave building. "Hammond huh. After all that trouble, it turns out to be someone we dont even know." Colin sighed. "Would you rather have seen Justine or Cadron again?" Jackson asked him. "No. I guess not." They managed to get in the building easily, the rest of the workers here were downright friendly. "I checked his computer. But all data has been deleted recently." Cable assumed that was the work of the two underlings that got away. "But what was he trying to do with the satellites?" Christine still wondered about that. "It was vaguely explained. But he said he wanted to upload information into the minds of everyone on the planet, to save them from whatever was coming." And he had a good idea about that too, thanks to his vision. "From the way he set it up, I doubt it would work like that. It looked more like he was trying to drain all souls on the world at once, and store them away. Then again that too might have saved everyone too."

"But now that has been settled. We still have no idea what to do next." They could no longer focus on the present, they had to mind the future if they wanted to fix all this. "If only we knew where Seneska was now. If the world of shadows has been absorbed by the gate of Alkahest, she can not be hiding there anymore." At this point Prospero wanted to speak up, about his own shadow's appearance. "..." Yet he chose to say something else. "Wait. You told me that one of the Millennium Items had the power to find other Items, right?" They nodded. "Yes. The ring.. but why do you... Oh!" The others caught what he was hinting at. "Yes. Seneska has her own Item, the Millennium Eye. If we track that, we track her." He sounded pleased with coming up with that idea. "One thing though. The ring works at a short range. And it probably will not work well for us alone.." Only Thryall could extends its range. But the compass had been destroyed. "Maybe we need whoever 'owns' the Ring. Someone defeated the previous owner in a duel right? Who was it?"

"Yes?" Elsewhere Nero picked up the phone. "The ring?" Carter was still with him. "What is wrong?" He inquired as soon as Nero put the phone down. "They need us. They may have a plan to find Seneska." Though that meant he would have to leave the hospital. "I have to say goodbye.." William understood and stepped outside already. "Mom.. Dad." The son spoke up, catching the attention of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. "Yes Nero?" Even now they acted like they had not a single care in the world. "I have to.. do something. It wont take me long." He wanted to tell them, but they would never believe it. "Oh? Are you going to do something with your friends? Do you miss them that much?" Mother's questions sounded dangerously sweet. "Let him go, dear. He is still young.." Father's comments were lightheartedly indulgent. "Just do not forget to come back in time for the ascension." They said together, which would have been unsettling from any other pair. "I will. Goodbye.. mother, father.." Had it been any other day, he probably would not have been able to say that.

Some time later, everyone had flown back to England, gathering at the orphanage where Elias was. "I hope we did not waste too much time with all these trips." The student had to wait a long time naturally. "There should not be much of a problem. General consensus among the population is that 'the ascension' wont take place for another 50 hours." They had to find Seneska and stop her before that happened. "Then should we search the other worlds.. can we even do that?" Ananka had not returned yet, but they figured they probably would not be able to go wherever she was. "First things first. Nero try touching the Ring." Jackson gave the Millennium item to his friend. "Okay. But I already tried this before.." He closed his eyes and took it. After a long period of inactivity, Madlyn spoke up. "It wont work, will it?" He opened his eyes again and sighed. "Yes.. I feared as much." But just then, the spirit of Ananka reappeared in the midst. "Ananka! Did you.." She shook her head. "No I still did not find Cleo. But.. I see you need me."

She overheard the story so far and inspected the Items they had. "I think finding Seneska will not that simple as last time. I can tell that even my world is starting to dread the coming ascension, something has changed up there. Important spirits have gone missing." She looked at William. "You met them. The sentinels.. the border guardians." He gasped. "Those people? They are gone?" He figured this was not good. "Yes. Seneska might have been responsible. Meaning she is finishing the gate of Alkahest in the afterlife, not in this world. She had already absorbed the darkness of hell, now she wants to take away the bliss of paradise. Metaphorically speaking." She touched the ring. "The items of the Millennium might have greater power in that world, so we can track her easily there." They stood a great chance of defeating her too, with five Items in their possession. "Great, so how do we get there?" Colin was excited about this, up until she answered him. "You can not. You are one of the living.. to go where I go.. you have to die.."

An uncomfortable silence followed. "Oh man." But for once even Sairve understood that yelling about it would not change the truth. "It wont be a pure death. The bodies will stay behind, as the souls pass on. But if we do not return in a day, we wont be able to return at all." . "Okay. I see that this is a necessary evil." Cable turned to the others. "But you do not have to agree to this. Not everyone has to face her. If you do not want to go just say so." The others looked at each other, and back at Ananka. "I can not reject this. I would never forgive myself." Christine said to him. "Nor would my brother forgive me.." Carter added. "We are the priests right? They expect us to come.." Colin laughed, lacking his usual nervosity. "I waited years to talk to my mother and father again. But they can not stay this way, this is not right." Nero stepped up as well. "And I would never leave you, Cable. No matter how twisted my mind gets." Jackson smiled at his friend. "Okay..but what about the rest?" Madlyn, Prospero and Elias had not given their answer yet. "I saw too much to ignore it now." Said Prospero. "I want the old world back as well." Said Halliday. "...." Gaines alone appeared to hesitate. "No.." But he took a glance at the Puzzle. "The Pharaoh and Cleo... saved me.

"I owe them, and everyone else. And a perfect world can not be worth all this death and lifelesness." He took a deep breath, he was in as well. "Then it is settled." She turned to Jane. "I do not know if you can go where will go, Jane. I am sorry, but I will have to ask you to stay behind." Jane in turn looked towards Jackson. "it will be fine. I wont be gone long." He gave her a thumbs up. "Just keep an eye out for my body, okay?" Her face nearly turned red. "O..okay." Then Ananka clapped her hands together. "This is how it goes; I shall touch your souls as I return to the afterlife.. This will draw you in with me. Enough of your spirit will be left behind for the bodies to remain somewhat alive. Everyone should hold on to thoughts and memories of their friends. That way they will all stay together. And Nero.. get ready to use the Ring. It will be out guide during the transition." He clenched the ring tightly. "Okay." They were all ready. "Then..it shall be done." Ananka released her hands and disappeared. "Huh.. I wonder when.." And everyone collapsed to the ground at once. "..." Jane was left behind. She checked the pulse of Jackson. "Not Gone..?" His heartbeat had slowed, not yet stopped. "Jack.." She stood up, imitating his thumbs up gesture. "..Good luck."

The journey to the other world was not as upsetting or chaotic as the one towards the shadow world, but it was nonetheless very strange. Instead of the proverbial tunnel of darkness with light at the end, there was nothing but colorless clouds. They felt lighter, warmer, as if they were wrapped up in white soft blankets. It was almost easy for them to just doze off into the light. But all of them kept thinking of what they had to do, and what they had to remember. "Now.." And Nero most of all had to focus, as he had taken the energy of the Ring with him. And he felt the needles move. "...?" However all of them pointed in one direction, their original direction. In the next instant the movement itself ceased, theirs and the rings. "Ahh.." They had arrived. And they stared at a large golden gate, surrounded by clouds. "It _is_ like this? Wow. I had no idea it really was like this." They had heard of the pearly gates, but did not think it would be real. "But what is with these clothes?" They looked down and saw robes and armor like they had been using back in the Memory World. "I don't know. Maybe this is how we see ourselves in the mind?" Even Prospero, Cable and Madlyn were wearing them. "At least we kept these.." Madlyn stroked her dueldisk.

"... This is not right." However Ananka seemed less than impressed. "What do you mean?" They wondered why she sounded so tensed up. "This is not how I left it. Nero, did you check the Ring?" He held it in his hands, the needles still pointed towards the gate. "I did. It brought us here immediately. But you are saying this place is different from what it used to be? Wait.." He then noticed that there was writing on the arched gate. "Is that not..Egyptian?" The text was in hieroglyph-form. "Egyptian? Then Seneska must have done this." Christine could think of no other person that would choose this motif. "She has the power to reshape this world? Only the head sentinel can influence it to such an extent." And the Magus had beaten even that guardian. "Then she must be.." Just then the gates opened. "..waiting for us." Ahead of them was a long misty path, surrounded by palm trees and crystal pillars. "Possible. She even said so back then. That she would give us the choice to accept or deny her ascension." And since they had not liked what they saw, they were here now. "She must want us defeated, that is the only way we too will follow her." So with reluctance and caution they ventured beyond the gate, stepping onto the pristine path.

And after a few minutes they came upon another gate. "What, so soon?" However there was someone in front of the gate. "Seneska.. here?" The fog shrouded the presence. "No.." But the closer they came, the better they could see.. her. "No..t Seneska.." Before them stood Fatimah, the Mercury Pillar. "What? The Magus still had servants lying around?" This was the first time Prospero saw her, Madlyn was already more then acquainted. "We meet again." The masked woman tilted her head. "Magus not here. Fatimah is here.. H...o." She spoke as if she was not even paying attention to them. "Let me guess. You will not let us pass without a duel." Colin would have expected such a cliché from the big bad. "You will not pass... without a duel.." She manifested her dueldisk. "That is what I said." Colin sighed. "I will handle her. Might as well get this over with." He wanted to activate his dueldisk too. "Wait. If she is still alive, then she must be the one who has my Millennium Tauk." Prospero butted in. "Is that true?" They only missed that item and the Eye. "..Y..es.." She revealed the golden necklace, hidden underneath her hair. "And.... the Puzzle." Elias gasped. "What, but I.." He still had the Puzzle itself. "No.. not you."

Jackson was the first to figure out what she meant. "Of course.. she was the one that beat Raness, she 'owns' the Puzzle now.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 101: Veni ex Preteritus)


	101. Veni ex Preteritus

**New Testament 101: Veni ex Preteritus**

"The Puzzle.. is hers? She was the one that defeated Raness." Elias had not seen it, he had not been there when the Pharaoh lost in the puzzle world. "Defeated.. yes. The puzzle is.. Fatimah's." The Mercury pillar did not make any effort to retrieve it however. "No wonder Seneska was so happy to give it up. Raness probably can not resurface as long as she possesses it." So now they had even more reasons to duel her. "Then I have to be the one to face her. It's my duty.." He clenched his puzzle. "Wait. Before you challenge her. We need to consider if this is the same as the shadow world." Carter placed his hand on the students shoulder. "If our lifepoints run out here, what happens?" He looked at Ananka. "I do not know. I have never fought in this realm. But.." She looked at the lifepoint meter on the dueldisk. "Life.. is Ba.. If it runs out, either the soul will be banished.. or unable to return. And I do not think we can regenerate Ba. That takes days, and we need to get to Seneska in less time than that. If we lose lifepoints, they will stay lost."

Now Elias understood. "I can not risk it." He touched his own dueldisk. "Yeah.. If Raness is reclaimed, he is our best hope at defeating Seneska. So whatever she tosses our way, you have to be the last resort." Hearing this, Colin flinched. "So you are saying that we are fodder? I would have beaten her myself, if it had not been for her cheating powers!" He did not like that sound at all. "I am just thinking in practical terms, Colin. We can not summon gods, can we?" When William said this, Sairve turned silent. "... Psh. Fine. I will take care of this one then." But Prospero stepped up again. "No. She has my Millennium Item too. I have to be the one to face her." He wanted the Tauk that was tied around her hair. "This is not multiple choice you guys, we have to think carefully about who we send out." Christine wanted to send whoever could best face her Fortune Lady deck. "Choice?" But Fatimah spoke up again. "Not your choice.. My choice.." She pointed at Ananka. "What, you want to duel her?" Colin gasped. "Yes. I want to duel her.."

"I see. It is because I brought them here. If she takes me out, she ensures that none of you can retreat back into your bodies." Likely Seneska had told her to make this choice. "Over my dead body. I will not let you die again, Aananka." Colin activated his dueldisk. "That is charming of you, Sairve. But we are both already dead." Though only in technical terms. "Then how about this?" Prospero activated his dueldisk as well. "Let us make it a fourway duel. A battle royal between me, Colin, Ananka and Fatimah here." He glared at the pillar, who did not object immediately. "You like the sound of that, don't you? You could call it a divination special. I heard your deck specializes in Fortunes, that would be perfect against my deck of Psychics. Ananka uses Arcana Force cards.. and Colin is a fortune teller too I guess." Colin flinched again. "You know I am!" But he did like the idea. "Hmm. This way I can make sure you do not die before me, heh." He smiled at Ananka. "You are hopeless.... but I know how you feel. Fine.. I too support this plan."

Fatimah took her time to stare at all three of her apparent opponents. "Very.. fine." She extended her hand, letting the heavenly fog slip side to reveal what they were standing on. "Oh my.." The circular platform beneath them was a large clock, which slowly lifted the four players into the air. "Guys!" The others could not follow, they could only observe. "Be careful!" Twelve platforms of energy lined up in a circle, personifying one hour each; this was the field of battle. "This is how it goes huh?" Fatimah stood at the north, the first sigil. The woman she wanted to defeat stood to her right, on the fourth. "The turn order.." Then came Prospero on the seventh, and Colin stood in the west on the tenth sigil. "That shows how much she cares about me.." Nevertheless he was ready for this. "Let's take her down. And move on from this madness." They all inserted their decks and drew their cards, Fatimah drew six cards. "Me.. too.." She activated a field spell. "Future.. Visions." The area was covered by stars and colors of the entire spectrum.

Fatimah's LP: 8000 Ananka's LP: 8000 Prospero's LP: 8000 Colins LP: 8000

"Future Visions? How appropriate.." They wondered what it did. She quickly revealed its ability. "Fortune Lady.. Light." She called out her level 1 mistress of the light(200/200), but she was quickly swallowed by a doorway to another world. "Huh?" Being removed from the field activated the effect of Fortune Lady Light, allowing Fatimah to special summon another Lay from her deck. "Earth." In her place came a spectacle-wearing earth mistress(2400/2400). "I get it. That field removes monsters from play when they are normal summoned!" This was a devastating effect for most duelists. However Fortune Ladies would only benefit from it. "End..turn." The Mercury Pillar was done. "Then we have to special summon our cards." Ananka drew her next card. "Fortunately, I have a way to do so. I activate Valhalla - Palace of the Fallen." She used the continuous spell that summoned angels from her hand, if she controlled no other monsters. "I summon Arcana Force XVI, the Tower." The Palace gave life to the spire-like angel(2600/2600).

Her turn was over, Prospero was next. "Heh. A card like that, I happen to have one too." He activated the continuous spell card: Teleport. "Once per turn, when I control no monsters, I can pay 800 LP to special summon a Psychic. Like the Psychic Emperor." A red pod transported the psychic resembling a Buddhist monk(2400/1000) to the field. "Then I set three trap cards down and end my turn." Finally it was Colins time to draw. "I don't like this. I don't have a card like that.." His deck was not specialized enough. "Then try to bolster your defenses. I have a plan for the spell.." Ananka assured him. "Okay I set a trap and.. wait. If I read that spell right..." But he had other ideas. "It says the removed monster returns during the players next standby phase. In that case.." He summoned the Dual Mode Beast, Fusilier(1400/1000). "Sairve, don't!" And she was too late to warn him, the dragon tank was absorbed by a future gate as well. "I know what I am doing, Ananka. Fusilier will return next turn, and its stats wont be halved anymore."

"That is not what I meant." She sighed. "What then?" Just then Prospero used a trap. "Excuse me for butting in with this card: Prophecy!" Colins deck reacted. "Colin. I am going to have to ask you to take a monster from your deck, any monster. Then I will guess how much attack it has." He took a random monster. "What like eight.." In his hand was Gallis the Star Beast(800/800). "No, do not tell me! Argh, I need to predict its attack!" He growled and closed his eyes. "Less then 2000.." He said quickly. "Hey how did you guess?" Colin chuckled. "Just give it to me." He tossed the card to the other duelist, who looked disappointed. "I hope that one makes you happy. Anyway I end my turn." Now Fatimah made her next move. "Light returns." The Fortune Lady of the bright element re-appeared. "Standby phase. Their ability.." Then the power of Earth(2800/2800) and Light(400/400) went up. "Oh right. The Fortune Ladies gain attack for each level they have, Light gains 200 and Earth 400 apparently." Each standby phase their level would go up too, one had gone from level 1 to 2, the other went up to 7. "When Earth's level changes.. you will lose lifepoints." Suddenly the orange-dressed mistress fired earthen spikes at Colin, taking 400 of his LP away

Colins LP: 7600

_Prophecy, Normal Trap_**  
**_Your opponent selects 1 monster in their deck and set it facedown on the field. You must guess whether the monster's ATK is more than, equal to, or less than 2000.  
If you are correct, that monster is sent to your hand. If you are wrong, the monster is sent to the opponents hand._

"Owch. I guess I now know who she wants to get rid of first." Yet as painful as that attack was, it would be nothing compared to the next effect. "Light.. again." She summoned a second Fortune Lady Light(200/200). "Oh no.." It was removed by Future Visions, and a new Fortune Lady appeared. "Lady.. fire." She chose the fiery destroyer(400/400). "End.. the tower." Fire would burn one monster until nothing was left of it. "Ananka!" And the controller would lose lifepoints equal to its attackpower. So as the sixteenth Arcana was destroyed, she suffered a great deal. "Hng.." Not only that, she was wide open for an attack as well. "Earth.. Fire.. direct attack." Flames and more stalagmites rained down upon the unfortunate woman. "I spoke to soon." Colin cursed, Fatimah was going after De La Isla after all. "Are you alright?" Nero shouted from down below. "I will be fine. It just has been a while, since I felt pain.." Her injuries quickly healed. "Now it is my turn. And I would like to return the favor.. I activate my field spell card, Light Barrier!"

Ananka's LP: 2200

The void of bright colors and dimensional gates was torn away by fierce golden light. "Fortune Visions is gone.. This spell also gives me the ability to determine what effects my Arcana Forces will get." She then reactivated Valhalla. "From the palace comes the strongest numbered Arcana, I summon Force XXI: The World. And besides him I normal summon Force VII, the Chariot!" Two angels of the tarot appeared, the dominating machine(3100/3100) and the many-handed mutant(1700/1700). "I attack Fortune Lady Fire and Earth!" The World blasted down the mistress of the ground, while the Chariot shot right through the fiery lady. "Chariot is in its upright mode, meaning I can take control of the monsters he kills!" Fortune Lady Fire was summoned to her side of the field. "And now I can use the other Arcana as well.." Arcana XXI grabbed both Arcana VII and the stolen spellcaster with its claws. "By tributing two monsters, The World will skip my opponents next turn! And I choose you, Fatimah!" The Arcana released a bright flash.

Fatimah's LP: 6400

"What..the.. deuce?" But it was not the pillar whose body was frozen in time. "I can not move.." Prospero was affected instead. His turn was taken away from him. "I thought you targeted her?" Colin was confused , as was Ananka. "I did. I do not understand." The damage was already done though. "Maybe you made a mistake? You haven't dueled in a while, right?" Sairve already regretted saying that. "It is not like that at all." She snapped. But she had to admit that it was possible. _"Maybe The World automatically goes after the next turn, rather than the turn I want to take out?" _She had to remind herself that this was a battle royal, not a three-on-one duel. "I am sorry Joe." She had to pass the turn to Colin. "But the, nobody is immune to errors on judgment." She whispered. "What was that? Hey.." He soon got why she said that.

"Fusilier is not showing up?" The Dragon machine stayed removed, unlike Fortune Lady Light. "That is what I wanted to warn you about. I would activate my own field next turn, and monsters can not return if the Future Visions is not there to make them come back." That was why she did not normal summon in her first turn. "Then why not tell me directly?" He fumed. "Because, she can hear me!" Ananka pointed at Fatimah, who seemed to prefer watching the whole discussion. "Fine, fine." Colin activated Trade In, discarding a level 8 monster from his hand. "I will make up for it. I activate my trap card: Powerful Rebirth!" His continuous trap would revive one monster in his grave. "I use it to revive the Galactic Empress. Her level will go up by 1, and her attackpoints by 100." Of course the retrained cosmic queen(3000/2450) was the card he had discarded for Trade In. "Now I attack Fortune Lady Light!" He wanted to strike down the last monster on the field of Fatimah. "!!!!" Instead she killed the Psychic Emperor. "Howthef.. what?!?"

Prospero's LP: 6600

"Did she move?" Those down were also amazed at what just happened. "The sigils.. are not placed differently.. Maybe it is an optical illusion." They could see the four opponents just fine, perhaps it was not the same for the others? "What kind of trick are you pulling here! This is not your Ka ability!" Colin remembered how she beat Raness. "This.. is a duel royal." Fatimah repeated what they had said. "My.. world. My r.u.l.e.s..." Cable soon realized where those rules came from. "It's her shadowgame! She is forcing this to be a duel between everyone, even if they want to attack her alone." However there was one thing that kept them from assuming that she could use this ability at all times. "Why did she not use it to defend herself against Ananka?" Nobody had an answer. "Tsk. We will figure this out." Colin summoned Zero Gardna(0/0) in attack mode and ended his turn. "I should complain here. She keeps picking on me, probably because she wants to keep the Tauk." Prospero still could not move, but he could talk. "... My.. turn."

In Fatimahs turn she summoned the Fortune Lady of the Wind(900/900). "Uh oh." This one could destroy spells and traps equal to the number of Ladies on the field. "Valhalla and Powerful Rebirth." The wind elemental released two blasts of wind, which cut down the continuous trap and spell off Colin and Ananka. "Damn it. Galactic Empress can save herself from dying by an opponents hand. But not if it is my card effect that kills her." Without the Rebirth card, the monster stopped being 'reborn'. "One card set.. turn end." Fatimah was quick to end her turn as well. She did not even attack with Light(600/600) or Wind. Possibly because she did not want to trigger Zero Gardna. "Then it is time to test these rules of hers. I attack with The World!" The mechanical angel fired more blasts off. "Oh!" But Windy was blown up after all, no tricks were involved in this battle phase "It seems I can follow your movements, Fatimah. Either that or the shadowgame has no effect on me.." She pointed at her enemy. "Either way. You will not trample over us!"

Fatimah's LP: 4200

(To be Continued in New Testament 102: Vidi ad Tendo)

**New Cards used by Fatimah  
**Fortune Lady Earth

-  
Fortune Vision

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Psychic Emperor

_-  
Prophecy(+)  
__(+) Based on the Trap uses by Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom._


	102. Vidi ad Tendo

**New Testament 102: Vidi ad Tendo**

Fatimah's LP: 4200 Ananka's LP: 2200 Prospero's LP: 6600 Colins LP: 7600

"Fatimah, I do not understand exactly how this shadowgame of yours works, but it does not seem to work on me." Ananka claimed as she had just successfully destroyed Fatimahs monster. "Maybe it is because I belong in this world, maybe I can see better than others." She placed two trap cards and one monster facedown. "Or maybe I can predict when it happens, when you switch targets?" At any rate it was now the turn for her fellow fortune tellers to try their hand at this game. "Tsk. She really wants to duel only you." Finally the psychic duelist was freed from the World's grasp. "I reactivate Teleport." He paid another 800 LP. "And I special summon Master Gig from my hand!" It was the psychic in a hovering capsule(2600/1400). "I can pay 1000 lifepoints to destroy one monster on the field for each Psychic I control!" The Master mentally selected one victim to crush, however to their surprise the last Fortune Lady was not harmed. "Caruso!" Arcana Force XXI The World was destroyed instead. "No! That was not what I wanted!"

Prospero's LP: 4800

"Damn it. I apologize..Ananka." He apparently guessed wrong. "I will make up for it... I reveal the Star Beast monster card Colin gave me, along with the top card on my deck." The top card was shown by Gallis's effect, it was a Doctor Cranium. "That is not so good.." He had hoped for more. "At any rate Gallis(800/800) will now be special summoned, and my opponent loses 200 LP for each level of Cranium as I send him to the grave." So Fatimah lost 200 lifepoints. "Battle!" Master Gig and Gallis launched forward. But flew in different directions. "Hey hey!" Master Gig actually came for Colin. "Zero Gardna!" He tributed his monster. "It will negate all damage I take this turn!" The telekinetic attack was stopped by the guarders selfdestruction. "Why did you split your attack?" He growled. "I expected another trick, and I will not fall for it. If I split my attacks I have a better chance of hitting her.. and it worked too." He pointed at Gallis crushing Fortune Lady Light. "You do not need to complain, I knew you had Zero Gardna to save you."

Fatimah: 4000

At that time Fatimah flipped one of her traps. "In..her..it..ed.. Fortune." It reacted to the death of her spellcaster, though it did not do anything yet. "Hmm? What is it supposed to.." Sairve began his turn, only to realize one terrible thing. _"What the crap? I am out of summonable monsters already?" _He actually only had one monster in his hand, but it was one that needed tributes. "Of all times. If I still had my Gardna.." He glared at the psychic and placed a trap card facedown. "Do not worry about that Sairve." Ananka spoke up. "I plan to stop her summons as well. I activate the permanent trap: Tour of Doom!" A grim reaper hovered over the field. "If I flip heads, you wont be able to normal summon next turn, Fatimah! You may be able to fool senses, but you can not fool time. I know when your turn begins." She flipped a coin, and it landed on heads. "Good, now she is blocked!" Yet despite their cheering, two new Fortune Ladies appeared on the field. "What?" They were special summoned. "It was her trap card that did it!"

"Inherited Fortune.. When activated.. two Fortune Ladies are summoned from my hand." Ananka realized the Tour of Doom only stopped normal or flip summons. "Water..and Dark." The first was level 4 and gained 300 points for each level (1200/1200), the other was level 5 and gained 400 points (2000/2000). "When water is summoned. I draw a card.." She drew two cards from her deck. "For each Fortune Lady I presume?" She controlled two right now. "And Dark has a power too." Without warning, Fortune Lady Water sent an aquatic stream towards Gallis the Star Beast. "When Fortune Ladies destroy monsters, Fortune Ladies will be reborn." The Star Beast drowned, and the Dark Lady hit the platform with her staff. "Oh no. She is going to.." And what she revived was Fortune Lady Fire(400/400). "Naturally." Fire was summoned by a Fortune Lady's effect, so she could destroy one monster on the field. "Master Gig.." The fire caster burned the Master Psychic, causing Prospero to lose lifepoints. "Grrr. You are starting to annoy me.."

Prospero's LP: 1800

Fortune Lady Dark then moved in for a direct attack. "Look out!" But the psychic had two traps left, one of which he used. "I will not let you get away with this! Psychic Tuning!" Suddenly the Psychic Emperor(2400/1000) returned. "This trap revives a Psychic in my cemetery, turning it into a tuner-monster. Furthermore Psychic Emperor gives me 500 LP for each Psychic in my cemetery!" He regained a thousand lifepoints from the deceased Doctor and Master. "Then... Colin." Darky redirected her dark magic, since the summoning of the Emperor constituted a replay of battle. "I almost wished you forgot about me." His trap could not stop such an attack, so he took the dark magic directly. "And then.. Ananka." And Fortune Lady Fire attacked the third duelists. "Heh." However the flames did not consume her set card, Arcana Force Zero(0/0). "You attacked the Fool. Which can not be destroyed in battle." She smiled. "Ah.." Darky would not be able to use her effect this time. "Then.. turn end." Ananka nodded and drew, though she looked upset.

Prospero's LP: 2800 Colins LP: 5600

"...I fear the answer." Ananka started her turn by summoning Arcana Force VIII, Justice(1800/1800). "But I am starting to wonder, so here is my question: What will happen if we beat you, Fatimah?" She merely tilted her head. "Win? Only one can win.." She replied coldly. "You are saying that even if we beat you, we have to beat each other too?" If it was like that, Colin would rather just quit while he still had lifepoints. "Only one can.. possess the Puzzle. Only one can own.. this." She touched the Tauk again. "Tsk. That thing is mine.." It aggravated Prospero that she would so casually flaunt the Item he once had. _"Then I should be the one to win this." _He said to himself, though that would also mean he had to defeat his friends. "I understand now, why you started this battle royal. You can take three of your creators enemies down even if you die yourself.." It was a helpful sacrifice indeed, but.. "Don't you care about your own future?" The Arcana destroyed the Fortune Lady of Fire, again Ananka could hit her without problems.

Fatimah's LP: 2600

Prospero started his turn. _"_What it boils down to is.._" _He summoned the Mind Protector(0/2200). ".. which one of us should move on?" He activated his trap; Psychic Rejuvenation, regaining 1000 LP for each monster on the field. "Is that trap your way of saying you stand the best chance, with your lifepoints and your ability to see visions?" Colin scoffed. "Well I am one of the priests remember? Seneska likes me more.." He chuckled. "This is not a fight, guys. Do not let her mindgames get to you!" William shouted from the sidelines. "I just want to make sure!" Prospero performed a synchro summon, combining the Psychically Tuned level 6 Emperor with the level 3 Protector. However Psychic Tuning decreased his LP by 400 for each level the revived Emperor had. "And I have seen a vision without the Tauk! That has to mean something!" Out came the level 9 Hyper Psychic Blaster(3000/2500). "Then tell us what you saw!" Sairve shouted and activated his trap: Dora of Fate. "What?" It targeted the synchro. "Why.. did you do that?"

Prospero's LP: 2400

"I.. do not know." He had flipped it without a second thought. "That card, if you summon a level 8 monster next turn, I will take 4500 damage. Oh I see how it is.." He suddenly activated a spell. "I wont let you beat me, Colin! I activate Miracle Synchro Fusion. I fuse the Hyper Psychic Blaster with the Psychic Emperor in my graveyard!" He fusion summoned the Ultimate Axon Kicker. "A fusion of a synchro?" The others had not seem him use this before. "That was the card you gave him, Cable?" Jackson asked his friend. "Yes. But.." Prospero seemed outraged enough to use it against Colin instead. "They are going insane.." Not even Madlyn thought this was normal behavior, for them. "You will not take my Tauk!" The demonic psychic(2900/1700) gathered telekinetic lightning. "You will not take my..soul!" But before he attacked, a dark flash passed by him. "I see it!" And Ananka understood what was going on, and she moved Arcana Force 0 in front of Colin. "Ananka!" The Fool took the blow for him. "It is the shadow game!"

She looked at Fatimah. "This is your game is it not? It was not an illusion, but manipulation. You tell the shadows what to do, you can speak their language. But I no longer have a shadow, so I was immune." Colin flinched, understanding why he activated Dora of Fate when he did not want to. "What, my own shadow is still working against me? But I conquered it!" Then again it did say he would return. "Shadows.. duel.. too." The Mercury Pillar answered. Then Prospero started to laugh. "If you want to die first, be my guest. My Ultimate Psychic inflicts piercing draining damage against your powerless angel. You will lose 2900 lifepoints while I regain it!" All his frustrations had made it too easy for the shadow to surface again, it seemed in full control now. "I know. That is why I will try my hand at one last prediction." She closed her eyes and activated two trap cards: Arcana Call and The Paths of Destiny. "Paths of Destiny will decide who lives or dies. A player can either gain or lose 2000 lifepoints. I did not want to use this, but I have no choice." Each duelist had to toss a coin, heads would heal them, tails would damage them. "Okay.." They all summoned a coin and tossed it, the result varied. "No!" But in the end only two received good news.

Ananka's LP: 200 Fatimah's LP: 4600 Prospero's LP: 400 Colins LP: 7600

"Ananka!" Colin and Fatimah were the ones who got heads, Prospero and Ananka received the Tails-end. "You failed!" She could not get enough lifepoints to survive the Axon Kicker's attack, and Arcana Force Zero was destroyed. "Wait, what?" However the death of that monster unleashed an even fiercer storm. "I also used Arcana Call." She managed to say, already feeling weaker. "When Justice was summoned, I switched him to Reversed mode. Thus when he attacked, I discarded half my deck. Including this card." She revealed Arcana Force EX The Dark Ruler. "Its Reversed effect was integrated into The Fool with my trap, meaning it destroys all cards on the field because you killed it!" The tempest took down Fortune Lady Dark. "Ha! Ultimate Axon Kicker is unaffected by.." And it also took down his fusion. "What? Impossible!" He gasped. "She did this! But why?" The robed spirit Atropos had joined Fatimah's side, the Ka ally had used her ability to take away the immortality of both The Fool and the Psychic Kicker. "You.. abandoned me!"

Ananka's LP: 0 Prospero's LP: 3300

"Ananka!" Colin was more concerned about her, her body began to shrivel up. "Stop shouting my name.. Sairve. Its getting old." She tried to laugh. "You did not have to protect me, why.. why did you.." He wanted to move to her, to hold her, but he could not leave his spot. "It is okay, Colin. I was already.. dead." She coughed. "No, please.." He stretched out his hand, to no use. "Maybe where I go now, I can see Cleo.." He could not do anything, he could only watch.. as she vanished completely. "No.." The others were horrified as well. Only Prospero ignored her disappearance. He continued to rant at Fatimah. "Prospero.. or his shadow. Whoever you are.." But Colin started his turn. "What dola you want?" And the psychic saw him summon the level 8 Beastking Barbaros(1900/1200). "I apologize to one of you.." It was what he needed to set off Dora of Fate, a monster with 1 level lower than the Hyper Psychic Blaster. "Nooo!" His 'friend' lost all of his lifepoints, even that which he drained from Ananka. "..No..I..I..." He faded away even quicker. "I.. saw what will happen to us." At the last second, Prospero regained control. "Colin. Please do not lose..please...stop the golden.." Fading before he could reveal his vision to them.

Prospero's LP: 0

_"The golden.." _Now there were only two opponents left. "Not going to say anything?" Fatimah and Colin, the battle royale had become a regular battle. "Your shadowgame worked. You manipulated us into attacking each other, made Prospero kill Ananka.. made me kill him!" And he had not even needed his shadow for the later decision. "So why are you not gloating, mocking me? Anything!" He entered his battle phase. "Say something!" Barbaros slammed his spear right into her face. Effectively taking away the LP-boost she got from De la Isla "I do not want Ananka to have died because of someone who does not even care about her own life!" The attack had shattered her mask, revealing her face. "What?" Elias recoiled in horror. It was just like with the other pillars, instead of eyes she only had empty dark sockets. "...End turn." It unnerved Colin enough to make him temporarily let go of his anger. "..Mock you? Why would I? We are.. all.. manipulated.."

Fatimahs LP: 2500

She activated the spell: Reasoning, picking up cards from her deck. "Ggh. Level 1." He had to guess a level, and if the first monster she drew would be that level, she would discard. "Four.." Instead the first monster was the 4th level Fortune Lady Water. "Tsk." It was special summoned(1200/1200), which allowed Fatimah to draw 1 card. "Normal.. summon." Her second monster was rather childish looking spellcaster(1600/1300). "Soli..t..air..Solitaire Magician.." However neither monster was stronger than Barbaros, which was why she used them for their effects. "Solitaire.. drains levels of Fortune Ladies, to destroy monsters." The tiny mage used her wand to take away 3 level stars from the Water mage, and converted it into a destructive spell. "Gah." Which took down the Beastking. "Direct attack." And then the magician whacked Colin with her staff. _"Grr. I can not let the lifeforce Ananka gave me go to waste, I can not!" _A card in his hand started to tremble. "Fatimah. I will kill you.." He declared coldly as he was surrounded by darkness.

Colins LP: 6000

(To be Continued in New Testament 103: Vici ega Posterus)

**New Cards used by Fatimah  
**Fortune Lady Water  
Fortune Lady Dark  
Solitaire Magician

-  
Reasoning

-  
Inherited Fortune

**New Cards used by Ananka de la Isla  
**Tour of Doom  
The Paths of Destiny

**New Cards used by Prospero  
**Miracle Synchro Fusion

-  
Psychic Tuning  
Psychic Rejuvenation


	103. Vici erga Posterus

**New Testament 103: Vici erga Posterus**

Colins LP: 6000 Fatimah's LP: 2500

"What is going on? Where is that dark aura coming from?" It was as if Colins shadow grew stronger, the duelist was surrounded by black energy. "No. This is still me. She can not fool me into attacking my friends anymore." He took a card from his hand. "When you hit me, I can special summon this monster..Tragoedia!" From his hand came a demon nobody would have expected to see in his deck, a large black monster with claws, spikes, tentacles and multiple legs. "This card gains 600 attack and defense points for each card in my hand!" He had three cards in his hand (Tragoedia: 1800/1800). "..End turn." fatimah was the only one not disturbed by the monster of darkness. Then again people wondered if she could see at all with those empty eyes. "I reveal the effect of Tragoedia! He discards one monster from my hand to take control of a monster on your field with an equal level!" He threw away his level 1 insect, Level Eater. "Thanks for reducing Watery's level!" Fortune Lady Water(300/300) was level 1 too and she switched over to his side. "Then I special summon Level Eater from my cemetery by reducing Tragoedia's level." The ladybug(600/0) ate one of the ten stars on the demon and appeared on the field as well. "Now I have two sacrifices.."

He tributed both the insect and the stolen Lady. "Tribute summon, Greed Quasar!" Out came the the level 7 Quasar demon(2100/2100). "Devour the Solitaire Magician!" The galactic predator chose the tiny mage as its next meal; stretching out its claws to grab her and eating her whole. "Greed gains the levels of those he kills!" It absorbed the four stars, and it gained 300 points for each star(3300/3300). "I did not realize this before, but their monsters are very similar." Cable noticed that both Greed and Fortune Ladies gained power from their own level. "Tragoedia attacks directly!" The demon(1200/1200) battered Fatimah with shadows. "Your move." He said, still fueled by some anger. "..Fortune's Future." A spell was played. "A banished Fortune Lady.. will become a mere dead Fortune Lady, and I draw.. two cards." She unremoved the Fortune Lady Light that Future Visions had targeted in her second turn, and she drew twice. One of her cards was the third Light mistress. "Set three cards and summon Fortune Lady Light(0/0).."

Fatimah's LP: 800

"So close.. and then." He drew another card. "If I can kill Light, I can win." Tragoedia(1800/1800) and Greed had more attackpoints than she had lifepoints. However she had three traps waiting for him, and he had no more level 1 monsters in his hand. "Tsk. If you think you can make me feel fear, after all that.. think again!" He attacked anyway. "Slip of Fortune." And as predicted she used one of her own cards. "This stops your attack.. and banished my Lady." The Fortune Lady slipped right between Greed's claws. "No.." This would of course set off Light's effect. "Special summon.. Dark." As she called a new Fortune Lady(2000/2000) from her deck. "Damn it. Tragoedia can not kill that one.." In fact Tragoedia was becoming less needed with every passing second. He did not enjoy the dark pulse it gave off. "I am not done yet!"

"Tragoedia's final effect: it can copy the level of a monster in my cemetery." He selected the Galactic Empress, so Tragoedia went from level 9 to 8. "Then I activate Advance Draw. I sacrifice a level 8 monster to draw twice!" He desired more traps than monsters right now, and his wish was granted with this spell. "I set three cards facedown and end my turn!" And he activated one of those three before she could finish her draw phase. "Proof of Powerlessness! When I control a level 7 monster, I destroy all level 5 or lower monsters!" He wanted to activate this while he still had Greed Quasar and before Light returned or Dark became a level 6 monster. "Time.. Pass..age.." But Fatimah countered with a quickplay spell from her hand. "The Level of Fortune Lady goes up.." A clock appeared to push time forward, Fortune Lady Dark gained three levels(3200/3200). "Level 8?" Now she could avoid his trap. "Again.. so close." Then during her standby phase, Fortune Lady Light returned. She(400/400) and Dark(3600/3600) gained 1 level each.

Thanks to all these effects, Greed Quasar was no longer the strongest on the field. "Attack me then. Come on!" And so she did, Dark released a blast of black magic. "Trap card: Stygian Dirge! The level of all your face-up monsters decreases by 1!" His first counter was to weaken Dark, so that Greed would kill her instead. "B..end..ing.. Bending Destiny." But she had a counter for the counter. "When I possess only Fortune Ladies, your card will be banished for one turn.." Her trap removed Stygian Dirge from play. "Oh yeah? Than how about this?" He activated another continuous trap. "Miniaturize; this also weakens your monster by 1 level and lowers her attack by a thousand!" He expected one counter, but this time he was sure he got her. Darky was weakened drastically(2200/2200). "Magical Dimension." Yet her hand held another quickplay. "For crying out loud!" The dimension spell sacrificed her Dark Fortune Lady and brought out the Witch of Catoblepas and Fate(1800/0)._"It is like she can foresee my every move.."_

Magical Dimension also destroyed Greed Quasar outright, so he could not even defend himself. "Direct attack." The Witch and her beast fired a lunar spell that knocked Colin nearly off his platform. "Oh no.. Are you all right?" Christine asked him. "Does it look like it? I am not all right at all!" He crawled back up. "How could I have not seen this before. This is just like that duel with Prospero. She has the Millennium Tauk..so she knows how this duel will end!" He glared at her. "So did you see everything? Did you see how many of us you have to defeat, how you must prepare your deck and maintain your lifeforce to survive against all of us?" He placed one monster facedown. Stygian Dirge was also reset as Bending Destiny could only keep it removed from play for one turn. "Or.. god forbid.. Did you actually predict an inevitable defeat?"

Colins LP: 4200

"I can not see.." She answered. "Huh?" For a second he thought she was joking. "I can not see.. the future after this duel." She drew again and sent the Witch to attack again. "What do you mean, you can not? The Tauk is not showing you what will happen?" His facedown Radio Jammer(1000/1000) was blown to scraps. "No. It can not show.. me. I know when, I know why... And I know I can not stop all of you." She had lost too much lifepoints already to do that, not even she could replenish it. "That does not put my mind at ease much." Even if someone would beat her, he felt that it was his responsibility now. "The future.. does not put minds at ease." She activated her last trap card. "En..lighten...ment.. When a caster destroys a monster, it can attack a..gain.." Sairve flinched as the witch jumped from one sigil to the other, before she ran right over him with the Catoblepas beast. "Gah!" By now he had lost most of his lifepoints. "Colin! Maybe you should quit while you still have life left!" Jackson shouted. "No! I can not do that, damn it!"

Colins LP: 2400

"If I give up now. This entire game will have been for nothing!" He drew his next card. "But if she predicted you would lose, maybe you can mess her up by withdrawing?" Madlyn said, as she did not like all this waiting around. "Maybe she predicted that too, and I will prove her wrong by staying!" He snapped back. "Wait.." But as he looked down he came upon a small epiphany. "We possess items too." He looked back at her. "The Tauk can not predict the futures of those who have them. So if one of you beats her in a duel, she cant tell who it is." Christine, Madlyn, William and Nero had officially overpowered the previous owners of the items; the Scales, Key and Ring. "What did you have in mind?" Nero was already one step ahead and took out the Ring. "Nero. I want you to pass ownership of that thing to me. Say that I can have it." He nodded. "Okay. I hereby declare Colin Sairve to be the new owner of the Millennium Ring." He spoke loudly. "Did that work?" He asked the supposed new master of the Ring. "Only one way to find out."

"Draw!" Fatimah said nothing, which he already found a good omen. "Come out: Murderous Aristocrat (1550/800). This monster destroys any card that has a lower level than himself." Though both the fiendish baron and the Witch of Fate were of the same level, he had an answer to that. "I reactivate Stygian Dirge!" The devils sang their song again, erasing one of the four stars on Fatimah's card. "Now your witch is level 3, so I attack it!" His monster struck with a demonic sword, cutting the Catoblepas-riding monster down before she could strike back. "Did you predict that?" He asked. "...No." She finally responded. "Yes! I knew it!" He ended his turn. "You know. Just because you stopped her from seeing the future, does not mean you can win." William said, feeling less optimistic. "The cards you draw from your deck do not change all of the sudden. If you were meant to lose, you will lose." This did dampen Colins mood a little. "I will take anything I can, William." For once he did not want to know what the future held.

"Draw.." Fatimah looked at her next card, which made everyone wonder why she did that at all. "Sacrifice Light for Earth." She called out the strongest of the Fortune Ladies(2400/2400), this time by tribute summon. "But Stygian Dirge is still in effect!" The trap weakened her too, and she(2000/2000) was weaker with each level she lost. "Synchro Boost." But Fatimah still had a spell. "Huh.. a synchro card?" The spell only powered up Earth by 500 attackpoints. But it also upped her level by 1, so she(2900/2400) actually gained 900 attack and 400 defense points. "Aah!" A line of earth spikes shot towards Colin. "I forgot that she does effect damage when she increases her level." He lost 400 lifepoints. "Fortune Lady Earth attacks Murderous Aristocrat." And he lost even more when the Murderer was crushed by a summoned boulder. "End turn." So now Colin was out of monsters again. The last card in his hand was his tuner monster, Dark Resonator. On its own it could not defeat Earth. _"What I need now is Level Warrior, or a Gilasaur.."_

Colins LP: 650

He needed luck, if he wanted to perform a Synchro summon. "I draw too!" Yet he did not draw such a card. "Oh..no?" However it was not entirely bad news. "This card?" He smiled at Fatimah. ".. I win..after all. I special summon the ultimate Golem in my deck: Supernova Golem!" He started removing monsters in his graveyard from play. "This card is an amalgam of dead monsters, it gains 100 attackpoints for each level." He removed Barbaros, Greed Quasar, Tragoedia, Galactic Empress and Murderous Aristocrat. "I combine 8, 7, 10, 8 and 4 levels: 37 levels.." And from his hand came a golem made from pure sunlight and solar flames(3700/3700). "Oh.." Now Fatimah knew, who would be the one to defeat her. An attack from that monster would remove all her remaining lifepoints. "I can no longer let you get in our way. We are after your creator, so this is the end for you! Supernova Prominence!" The radiant monster unleashed a bright flare of energy that atomized Fortune Lady Earth within nanoseconds. "The.. end.." The duel was over.

Fatimah's LP: 0

_Supernova Golem 8/?/? Light/Fiend  
__This monster cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be special summoned except by removing a number of monsters in your graveyard (max 5) from play.  
__This monster's original attack and defense are equal to the combined level of the removed cards x 100.  
__When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, remove it from play and reduce the attack and defense of this card by the removed card's level x 100. _

The sigils disappeared beneath their feet. Colin and Fatimah slowly descended towards the floor. "Colin.." At the same time the gate behind them started to move, with the guardian of this stage defeated they could move on. "..But what about.." They however still had questions. "Ananka de la Isla and Prospero Joe Caruso?" And the one who could answer them was not gone yet. "You.." Fatimah stood despite the fact that her legs were fading away. "What happened to them, where did their souls go?" Colin felt some of his anger resurface. "Their souls... I do not know. The Creator only said.. to erase the shadows.. and the spirits." She pointed at Colins own shadow. "What?" He noticed that it was much smaller now. "When Ba.. is gone.. The shadow.. will die.. the Ka will fade. But the soul is fine.. Creator wants the souls." So it appeared that lifepoints were just representing their own energy. "Then, they did not die? They are just.." Without shadows or spirits, they had to be like the rest of the world. "This is what Seneska wanted.." They understood it all now. "By letting us duel here, and depleting our lifeforce, we will be forced to accept the effects of the Albedo. Prospero and Ananka are already shadowless. But then.. what about you?"

Fatimah was no longer human, her heart was within the Hourglass she held in her hand. "I will vanish.. and be with my creator... The Mercury Homunculus.." Their deaths apparently reduced them to mere monsters under Seneska's control. "Why would you do this to yourself?" Christine almost felt sorry for her. "Time manipulates us all.. we are powerless. The future.. I was born with the ability to see it. And I feared it.." She touched her own eyes. "The Creator took my eyes, so that I would not see the visions... And now the Creator has beaten time, erased every future of pain and sadness." Behind her Atropos appeared one more time. "My Ka, denies immortality to save the immortal from the future. And now.." The rest of her dissolved as well, leaving just her hollow eyes. "Now.. I deny..." Which soon merged with the fog of the heavens..

"...Myself."

(To be Continued in New Testament 103: Vici ega Posterus)

**New Cards used by Fatimah  
**Fortune's Future  
Time Passage  
Synchro Boost

-  
Slip of Fortune  
Bending Destiny  
Enlightenment

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Tragoedia  
_Supernova Golem_

-  
Proof of Powerlessness  
Stygian Dirge


	104. Rise and Shine

**New Testament 104: Rise and Shine**

The duelists had defeaten their first obstacle. "Ananka.." But already they lost two team-members. "Did she even have a shadow anymore? Where did her soul end up?" Fatimah had claimed that the coming duels were only there to erase their inner spirit and their darkest thoughts. "Maybe she is.. deader then dead?" But Ananka De La Isla had already passed on. "We can not think like that. We have to believe in her survival, and in ours." Before them was the gate out of the heavenly stage. "She knew the risk. And the enemy wanted her gone first because she alone could have brought us back. Now there are only two choices for us left: winning or losing. There is no retreat." If they lost, Seneska would win completely. If they won, they could save the entire world. It was that simple. "You are right." Colin stood up, wiping his cheeks. "We have to move on. She, Prospero and Cleo will have been sacrificed for nothing." The rest agreed, they had to continue. "I suppose I should also officially give the Items back." He had taken the Ring from Nero and won the rights to the Puzzle after all. "We can do that while we move on." Said Elias. "Let's see what lies ahead.." They entered the gate.

Immediately they noticed the absence of light, all white clouds and pearly lights had been exchanged for complete and utter darkness. A few minutes of walking and trading later, they still did not see anything but darkness. "This is more like a heaven she would imagine." Seneska apparently had the ability to bend the reality of this place, so they could have expected a section devoted to shadows. "Does this mean we are getting close to her?" Madlyn sounded excited. "Could be. Fatimah was the last of her creations." In Colins hands were the Mercury Hourglass and the Millennium Tauk. "And unless she can resummon them from broken anti-items, we should be in the clear." And that topic gave Nero a new question. "But now that we have the puzzle again, should Raness not make an appearance?" He looked at Elias. "I think so. But so far I have not felt a change." The student still senses no life inside the golden item he carried around. "Hey guys." What was different however, was the first source of light. "Is that.. a star?" In the distance they saw a bright flaming sphere. "It looks like the sun even.." The sun they had not seen for days.

"Are you telling me that Seneska moved an entire sun?" Strange things had happened, but William had to break his suspension of disbelief somewhere. "Maybe it is more of a metaphysical representation? The sun has always been important to Egyptian culture.. This could be the center of this world, the throne of god..." Cable started to feel like he was inside the myths he had been reading for all these years. "It is as good a guess as any. But where do we walk?" They could not see any clear path, everything was as black as the night. "It feels like we're flying.. At any rate we should be fine as long as we can walk towards it." Though that the sun was on a higher elevation did not look good. "Uhm.. guys?" But Christine saw something even more worrisome. "Does that.. look like a flame.. that is coming towards us?" From the sun up high, one of its flares shot down towards the group. "Hit the deck!" They all wanted to run for cover, but there was nothing to hide behind. "Whoa!" And the flame stopped right in front of them anyway. "Huh?"

Now they saw its shape clearly, a giagantic bird of fire that towered over the seven remaining duelists. "Return now!" A turbulent voice echoed across the infinite space. "Leave this sanctum and return to your world!" The very words it spoke shook them to their core, and the heat was unbearable as well. "Who..who are you?" Jackson managed to ask it. "We are the six priests of the new Pharaoh, and the sentinels of the spirit world!" Nero blinked as he heard this. "We?" Only then did he spot five more lights far behind the fiery bird. "The sentinels?" Red, blue, green, silver and green lights circled around the solar body. The red and blue was enough of a sign for William to accept what thef iery one said. "I though they disappeared when Seneska took over?" That was what Ananka told them, yet here they were. "Wait do not tell me.." Elias had a bad feeling about this. ".. Lady Seneska is the new Pharaoh, and the ruler of all worlds. She will lead us to perfection, and as her priests we shall do everything we can to stop her enemies!"

"Tsk. You were brainwashed by the Albedo then.." Though unlike the people down on earth, this fellow sounded rather hateful for someone with no shadow. "It might not be that simple. But it appears that we have to fight some more before can get to her." Slowly everyone stood up, resisting the pressure from the sun spirit. "You do not wish to return then? You choose the fate of perfection through the suffering and agony of the living?" Between the roaring flames and deafening echoes, one could almost hear a touch of pity. "If you stand with her, then we are the last ones that can challenge her ideals! We can not go back now, the world depends on us!" Even if it hurt their eyes, they all looked straight at it. Golden eyes could be seen on the face of the solar bird. "So be it. Your wicked Ka and misguided Ba will be extinguished by our hands. The only road towards the gate of Alkahest is under our control." The golden flame entity flew into the sky, along with the five other lights. "We will wait for you, priests of the former Pharaoh!"

A bright multi-colored flash followed, temporarily robbing everyone's sight. "Is everyone still here?" Cable was the first to speak up. "I am getting tired of these flashes." It seemed like they were still together.. and in the same place. "Huh.. I thought we would have gone somewhere else after all that." The darkness surrounded them like before, and they still could not see a clear path. "We can at least see each other. We just have to.." But as William gazed upwards, he observed nothing but the shadows. "The sun.. is gone?" The priests had altered their environment after all. "And..this floor feels solid." He tapped the ground beneath his feet, which felt coarse and strong. "A tunnel of some sort?" Nero started feeling around, and found a wall he could touch. "Seems this way is a dead end. We only have one way to go.." They could only move up, through the obscure. _"I liked the pseudo-heaven more."_ Christine thought. Even the burning presence of that fire bird felt better than this cold emptyness. _"This is not how this world should be.."_

"That reminds me. I should probably give command of the Ring back to you." Nero held it, but he had been given it officially. "This one, I suppose, is mine now.." He had the Tauk after all, which hung around his neck. "I feel bad for Prospero.. Maybe I can give it back.." But touching it caused it to react in a way he did not expect. "Colin?" He froze in his tracks, his eyes wide open. "Did you.. see what I saw?" He snapped out of his trance a few moments later. "What? Did you get a vision from the Tauk?" They had not seen anything. "I think so... I have no idea why it gave one to me now." Yet a vision was not the only thing the item was showing. "Colin, your Tauk!" The eye symbol on the necklace started glowing. "What? Oh that is never good news.." Nero quickly pulled out his own item. "I should have done this sooner." The needles were pointing again, they did not however points to their items. "What are the items reacting to?" The Ring pointed to the other side of the darkness. "They are pointing to me." Someone was there.

"Who is there!" Soon they could make out a shape in the shadows. Either their eyes were adjusting to the dimness, or the glowing Tauk made it easier to see. "You were warned. You should know by now, what challenges lie ahead of you." Though even then it was difficult to see the man, a tall individual wrapped up in purple robes and black armor. On his head he wore an Atef crown, adorned by a golden third eye. "The Tauk?" It was a Millennium Item, one they already had. "If you have one.. and we have one.." This quickly became very confusing. "I am the priest of the Millennium Tauk, and sentinel of the darkness before life. I govern all spirits of the black element." He pointed at Colin with his clawed gauntlet. "And I control the gift of foresight. The Tauk you control is the physical power. But a part of it transcended with my soul into the afterlife." He retracted his arm. "I will forever remain a priest of that Item, and a loyal servant to the Pharaohs. Now then.. servants of Raness. I Almagest, shall be your first opponent."

"Almagest.." They stood against the first enemy, the first of seven. "Sounds like Alkahest, hee..." Madlyn was amused by the coincidence, if it was one. "So who gets to duel him?" Either way she was more than willing to face him. "Wait. If he controls the Tauk.. and the darkness." William wondered how these claims would affect the flow of the coming duel. "Well as a fellow Tauk-owner, I should try to face him. But.." Colin looked at his dueldisk. "I do not have much life left." His last duel left him with only 650 lifepoints. "If he uses the darkness. Then we should counter with Light. I shall see what his deck offers." Carter activated his dueldisk. "Are you certain of that, young one? The Primordial darkness existed long before any speck of light.. In fact you would be better off if you came at me all at once. None of you should have to suffer fear for that long." The priest summoned his own dueldisk. It was made of gold and black steel. "Since when did priests use machines we invented?" Colin wondered. "This is just a representation of our true form, to give you something to fight against." Almagest explained. "Anyway.. considering how many of us are here, and how many of you there are; each of us will have to duel at some point. But we will not make the same mistake again. We wont risk more then a life at a time." He drew his cards. "You will focus on me first. And I will focus on you, we will duel until one of us falls!"

Almagests LP: 8000 Williams LP: 8000

"You are correct." Almagest drew his cards as well. "I will fight until there is nothing left to fight." He placed one monster facedown. "That is the way of Justice." He ended his turn. "Justice?" Will was weary, nobody would open with such a simple move, unless the facedown card was that dangerous. "I summon the Chaos End Master." He felt he had to counter with something quick, something they had not seen yet. "It attacks your facedown!" The Tuner spellcaster flew across the darkness towards the hidden card, slaying it with black and white magic. "You master both white and black, young one. A potent skill. However, light will remain light." What died was a mechanical elephant(1200/800). "When Ally of Justice - Unknown Crusher is destroyed by a wielder of light, the killer will be banished!" The elephant raised his trunk, which opened a portal in time and space. "Removed from play?" The Chaos master was sucked into the portal, blinking out of existence. "I see. Allies of Justice, monsters that oppose the Light-element."

No he knew why Almagest did not fear him. "Still, Chaos End Master destroyed another monster. I can special summon one level 5 or higher card with 1600 attack or less from my deck!" He called out a black/gold metallic sphere(1600/0). "Sphere of Chaos! It attacks directly!" The Machine fired beams from its body. "The sphere, another creation of darkness that can wield the light." But then to everyone's shock, the energy phased right through him. "What the.." As if he were a ghost. "I told you, the light has no effect in this domain." The attacks exploded in the background, swallowed by shadows. "Light monsters can't inflict damage?" That was the only way he knew how to explain what just happened. "Correct. I am immune to them, their effects can not burn me, my hand, or my deck. And now it is my turn.."

Since Will had nothing in his hand that he wanted to set, he could not object to the sudden turn change. "Ally of Justice - Nullifier." This time it was a six-legged walking machine(1600/1200). "Then the spell card: Machina Armored Unit." Apparently machinery was his motif. "Now the darkness will swoop down." The Nullifier fired two blasts from its shoulder cannons. "But Sphere of Chaos can once per turn ignore death in battle!" The orb closed its lids to defend against the energy. "Tricks of the light can not dazzle me either. This Ally nullifies the effects of the Light monsters it targets!" The machine of darkness overpowered the shell of the Sphere, ripping right through it. However since they had equal attackpoints, both of them died. "Now the effect of Armored Unit. It special summons a machine with less attack than one that was destroyed in the field of battle." The continuous spell started to glow and produced a small black/white lizard-machine(1200/200). "Core Destroyer, direct attack." The Ally stabbed Carter with its spiked tail. "Ugh.."

Williams LP: 6800

"William. Maybe we should switch out. If Light does not work here.." The others started to get worried, half of Williams deck would not even be able to hurt the Priest he dueled right now. "No. I still stand a better chance than most of you. The other half of my deck is suited to this terrain." His dark monsters should be able to thrive in these dim caverns. "And I do not think he is the type to let me withdraw so easily." He said as Almagest placed a trap card down. "Correct. Retreating is the same as accepting defeat, either way I shall claim your lifeforce." He finished his turn. "Than I have to fight darkness with darkness. I summon the Mad Archfiend!" The flesh and bone demon appeared. "It attacks Core Destroyer!" The archfiend fired pieces of its skeleton at the Ally of Justice. "Your intentions are sharp, yet your expectations are flawed." He flipped his trap card. "Continuous curse: DNA Transplant. I change the element of all monsters on the field." Suddenly the Mad demon gained a whiter color. "I choose Light." And he exploded. "What?" He had not even finished his attack yet. "Core Destroyer automatically kills creatures of the light, when they face it in battle." The Ally machine had used its effect against the Archfiend. "Blast.."

"Chaos Duelist, your mistake was to challenge my darkness with your light."

(To be Continued in New Testament 105: The Grinders of Justice)

**Card used by William Carter  
**Mad Archfiend

**Card used by Priest Almagest  
**Ally of Justice - Unknown Crusher  
Ally of Justice - Nullifier  
Ally of Justice - Core Destroyer

-  
Machina Armored Unit

-  
DNA Transplant


	105. The Grinders of Justice

**New Testament 105: The Grinders of Justice**

"The psychic?" Back in the real world, Jane Doe had taken the time to put the bodies of her friends to empty beds. However she was only done for a few minutes, when one of the nine woke up. "Ah. Hello miss, it is a nice day is it not?" Prospero was wide awake, standing next to his bed with a smile. "What?" As far as she knew, this was not supposed to happen. At least not him alone. "The others.. where are they?" Nobody else showed this behavior, or any behavior. "I am affraid I do not know what you are asking of me, madam... What is your name again?" His voice sounded sincere enough, this was not just a trick. "... confusing." And Jane soon realized what was missing from this pocture. "Your..shadow." She could no longer sense it, the darkness within him. "You are one of them.." She took a step back. "My apologies, I just do not know what you are talking about. All I know is that I had the most wonderful dream. A golden dream that soon will be reality.." He looked out the window. "One might almost call it a vision. One that we all share.."

Meanwhile in the other world..

Williams LP: 6800 Priest Almagests LP: 8000

William was wide open, a trap he placed was his last protection. "My turn. I normal summon Ally Genex.. Chemistry." The priests next machine was a gunwielding robot(200/500) with two gastanks strapped to its back. "Wait. Is that a tuner monster?" It was the last thing any of them expected to see. "Correct." He immediately performed a Synchro summon, combining the level 2 Genex with the level 3 Justice Ally. "Ally of Justice - Catastor." What emerged was like an evolved variant of the Core Destroyer, a reptilian machine(2200/1200) with one eye and a golden mane. "I already found it odd that he was using machines. But Synchros too?" They turned out to be as up to date as some of Seneska's servants had been. "Us priests and the primordial darkness are far older than these Ka's, we can wield whatever shape the creatures of our element take. And I choose to wield justice!" Catastor moved to attack. "Since when is Justice dark-elemental!" But Carter countered with his trap card. "Fiendish Chain; it bind your monster!" The machine was chained down.

"Darkness is not evil, young one. Darkness just is.." He finished his turn. "Yet here you are, trying to erase my shadow. Don't you see your devotion to Seneska is causing you to contradist your own beliefs?" William drew again. "Seneska is the Lord of all. She will unite darkness with light." He responded coldly. "..That does not convince me. I summon Trap Eater!" A large-mouthed demon(1900/1600) appeared on the field. "It destroys your trap card to appear on my field." DNA Transplant was devoured. "Then I normal summon Cyber Dragon Zwei! If you attack me with Synchros, I shall repay the favor!" Trap Eater was a level 4 tuner, so he could tune it with the level 4 Dragon(1500/1000) to form a level 8 Synchro. "Ligh End Dragon!" He summoned the majestic white dragon(2600/2100). "After all that, you still summon a creature of the light?" Almagest scoffed at it. "Catastor automatically kills off creatures that are not of its element. Even without a trap, your Synchro shall wither away." Despite that warning, William entered his battle phase. "But monsters affected by the Fiendish Chain can not use their effects!" Almagest flinched. "Kill it!" And Catastor was destroyed the white dragons holy rays. ".." However the rays did not reach the priest.

"He did not lose lifepoints?" Almagest should have lost 400, instead he lost nothing. "Not even overflowing damage harms you. Tsk." At that time Machina Armored Unit was activated. "Correct. And you killed a dark machine, so I invoke one with less offense." The frontline spell called out an electrically charged machine pod(1800/1400). "Level 5 tuner machine: Ally Mind." From this the others could tell that he was about to summon yet another Synchro. "I did not know they made Tuners that big." A really big Synchro, Colin feared. "Turn end." And Carter could do nothing about it. "Then since you try to bring light into this void, I shall have to force it into hiding." He activated a spell card. "The Book of Eclipse." Ally Mind and Light End Dragon were switched facedown. "Now your dragon can not use his powers.."

He flipped Ally Mind back face-up and summoned a different machine. "Ally Salvo. If a creature of light destroys this bomb(400/300), it will detonate and take 2 other cards down with it. Then I invoke another spell: Machine Duplication." Almagest's second spell card summoned two more bombs(400/300) from his deck, since they had less than 500 attackpoints. "It comes.. once more." Ally Mind and two of the three Salvo bombs were tuned together. "Ally of Justice - Field Marshall." The endresult was a more humanoid black/white and gold machine(2900/2600). "Absorb the hidden brilliance.." The marshall used its claws to cut Light End Dragon down. "When this Justice spirit slays a hidden spirit, its master shall add one card to their hand." The priests drew a card and placed it facedown. "Try again, young one."

"You are strong, I will admit to that." As things looked now, he would have to use more of Andre's cards. "I activate Recurring Nightmare to add two dark monsters with no defense to my hand!" He reclaimed Sphere of Chaos and Mad Archfiend. "Then I activate the Power of Yin & Yang. If I control a Light monster I can special summon a Dark monster from my hand!" He normal summoned the Trust Guardian(0/0800), a small fairy. And then with the spell he special summoned the Chaotic Sphere(1600/0). "Here I go, the Level 3 Guardian combines with the level 5 Sphere. I synchro summon Dark End Dragon!" From his extra deck came the ghoulish black dragon(2600/2100). "I can sacrifice 500 of its points, to destroy 1 monster you control!" The dark one(2100/1600) opened the mouth on its chest, sucking in the Field Marshall entirely. "And now I attack!" Since it was not a light-type, it could crush the Ally Salvo without worrying about setting it off. "You wanted to see the darkness? Well here it is.." He smiled. "Indeed."

"However, you have yet to hurt me.." He reactivated the Machina card, special summoning the Ally of Justice Tractor (0/0) from his deck, which had even less attackpoints than the Ally Bomb. "You will never reach our Lord like this." The turn switched over to him. "The priests after me are even stronger than me. And then there is the one who wields the solar flare." He referred to the big fiery bird they saw. "You can not afford the time it takes to deal with just one of us." He drew a card. "Then you better not waste time with talking." Nero snapped at him. "But of course... Ally of Justice - Tractor can be sacrificed to add two more Allies to my hand." The truck machine snagged two cards from the priests deck and then disappeared. "Even if you discard the light, I can make it return to you. The curse of Ojama Trio will suffice!" And then he flipped his trap, Ojama Trio. "Oh no!" Ojama Black, Green and Yellow(0/1000) appeared on Carters field. "They are light-types?" Now Almagest was free to use his destructive effects all over again.

_Ally of Justice - Tractor, 1/0/0 Dark/Machine  
__If your opponent controls a face-up light monster, you can tribute this card to add 2 'Ally of Justice' monsters from your deck to your hand._

"When you control multiple monsters, one of them a Light-elemental, I can special summon this machine; Ally of Justice - Cosmic Closer." A machine that looked like a matter transporting tube(2400/1200) came from his hand. "For the normal summon, Ally of Justice - Thousand Arms." Thousand arms was a spiked android with six arms and six weapons(1700/0). "It can target all creatures of light on the field. But the first target will be your dragon." Cosmic Closer blasted towards the Dark one, smashing into it. "Hmm?" But the synchro(1700/1200) did not die, it just grew weaker. "A monster synchro summoned with Trust Guardian will never die in battle! It will just lose 400 attack and defense points each time!" The tuner allowed the dragon to survive. "Impressive." Thousand Arms took two of its weapons. "Then to leave one Light-spirit alive, will be my choice." Ojama Black and Yellow were cut down, their deaths caused Carter to lose 300 lifepoints. "It seems I can not end this duel that quickly either." He ended his turn. "Seems so.."

Williams LP: 5900

"My turn! I reuse the effect of Dark End Dragon!" The synchro(1200/800) lost even more of its stats, only so it could swallow up the Cosmic Closer as well. "I switch him to defense mode and summon the Card Trooper." The toy-like robot(400/400) drove unto the shadowy floors. "It attacks Thousand Arms!" Two shots were sent towards the Ally of many weapons, discarding three cards to empower its offense (Card Trooper: 1900/400). "However when you attack Thousand Arms with a creature of anything but light, it will autimatically be destroyed." The Justice machine blew up before it was hit. Thus Almagest again avoided all damage. "This time the use of other elements worked against him." Cable felt like this duel would take too forever. "And he seems to be getting tired." Jackson noticed William started to breathe heavily. "I can do this.. damn it. I have to do this." He could only place a trap before ending his turn. At the same time Machina Armored Unit special summoned an Ally of Justice - Searcher(1400/100) to the field.

"There is no shame in accepting weakness, young one. We priests have honed our skills for millennia. Your loss is unavoidable." He summoned a bomb-monster, one that Colin recognized. "Is that not the tuner that summons a level 4 dark machine?" In this deck, the Black Salvo(100/1100) was more then useful. It revived Ally of Justice - Nullifier(1600/1400). "He will synchro summon a level 10 card?" The level 3 black bomb was combined with the level 3 Researcher and the Nullifier. "Synchro Ally of Justice - Decisive Armor." It was like a brilliant gold/black moving fortress(3300/3300) with three cannons. "When you control a creature of the light, this machine can use one of three abilities." He pointed at Ojama Green, and than at Williams face-down card. "One: to shatter what is hidden." His trap card, Cosmic Blast, was destroyed by the left cannon. "With that you intended to hurt me. Alas, I foresaw such dangers." Then the main cannon fired a dark laser at Dark End. "Return to the shadows." Trust Guardian saved it(800/300) at the last second.

"Damn it." Carter knew why he attacked the defending Dark End instead of Card Trooper(400/400), whose death would have caused him a lot more damage. "Oh no. Its defense is too low." The synchro could only devour monsters by sacrificing defense and offense. It no longer had 500 defense points to give up. "You play conservatively, as do I. However I can take as much turns as I want. Without sacrifice, how can you hope to touch the opposition?" He ended his turn. This time William did not even have a means to take out the Ally of Justice, let alone the one who stood behind them. "Emergency Cyber.." All he could do was add a Cyber-monster to his deck with his spell. "I summon Cyber Larva(400/600)." The small cyber dragonoid() was what he decided to take. "I switch the Trooper to defense mode and end my turn." At least if he attacked it, he could negate all lifepoint damage for one turn and call out more Larvae. "At the very least your will is an admirable trait for a shadowed human. If only more of your kind had been like you."

It was his turn. "Second effect: by severing a card in my hand, all your magic will be erased." He discard a card and the right cannon targeted and shot down the Yin/Yang card. "Do not think, I will let you stall." He called out a new Ally, six mechanical bugs(1700/1200) that flew around the two players. "What is this?" The six formed a triangular shield around them. "Quarantine. This machine blocks all light. No such creatures can be special summoned." That meant Cyber Larva's second effect could not be used. "A two-pronged strike." The main cannon fired again, completely annihilating the Card Trooper. Meanwhile the triangular barrier shrunk in around the Larva, crushing it inside its small space. "End turn." Afterwards they expanded the barrier again, leaving nothing but white powder. "Come on William, I know you can do it!" Christine yelled when she noticed his dispirited expression. "You know machines like no other! There has to be a weak point somewhere!" Nero also wanted to cheer him up. "A.. weak point?" He blinked.

He could see nothing, no card in his hand that could exploit a hidden flaw. Not even when Card Trooper's death allowed him to draw outside his draw phase. "Wait.." But then he realized, he had forgotten what else was in his extra deck. "Wait..wait...I activate Emergency Cyber from my cemetery!" He discarded the Mad Archfiend to add the spell back to his hand. "Then I use its effect, to add Proto-Cyber Dragon to my hand!" He summoned the prototype(1100/600) to his field. "What does this accomplish, young one?" Almagest did not understand why he called it out in attack mode. "Because there is a certain fusion monster that requires a Cyber Dragon. A fusion of all machines on the field!" For the second time in their fight, the priest looked shocked. "That is right, I fuse Protocyber with Quarantine and Decisive Armor!" The Allies of Justice were sucked into the polymerizing vortex, merging into one mechanical creation. "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon." And from the vortex came his fused fortress(3000/3000). "I know what your weakness is.. Almagest. You expected to duel everyone.. except me. You could not have prepared yourself, for something like this!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 106: Six Degrees to Separation)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Trust Guardian  
Dark End Dragon

-  
Recurring Nightmare

-  
Fiendish Chain

**New Cards used Priest Almagest  
**Ally Genex - Chemistry  
Ally of Justice - Catastor  
Ally Mind  
Ally Salvo  
Ally of Justice - Field Marshal  
_Ally of Justice - Tractor (+)  
_Ally of Justice - Cosmic Gateway  
Ally of Justice - Thousand Arms  
Ally of Justice - Searcher  
Black Salvo  
Ally of Justice - Decisive Armor  
Ally of Justice - Quarantine

-  
Book of Eclipse  
Machine Duplication

-  
Ojama Trio  
_(+) Based on the Card used by the Diablos Duelists in YGO 5D's season 3_


	106. Six Degrees to Separation

**New Testament 106: Six Degrees to Separation **

Williams LP: 5900 Priest Almagests LP: 8000

"Direct attack!" For once his opponent could not avoid the damage he was about to take, all his Allies of Justice were fused into the Fortress dragon(3000/3000) whose element was the one of the darkness itself. "..Hmph." He took the blasts and lost a significant amount of lifeforce. In fact the duelists was now in the lead. "My dragon gained 1000 attackpoints for each fusion material, including the machines you once controlled." William could finally smile again. "If I can touch you, I know I can win." He placed a trap card. "Your darkness finally pierced mine.. correct." The turn passed over to the priest.

Priest Almagests LP: 5000

"However your belief that I would not be prepared for this, is unfounded. Us priests have to be prepared for anything that threatens The Lord." He drew and activated the spell: Beginning of the End. "I will crush all of you if it comes to it." By removing five dark monsters in his grave, he could draw three cards. "Your fusion will not last through this turn. Come out Ally of Justice - Unlimiter." A needle-ship(600/200) flew down on the field. "Limiter?" That sounded familiar to the machine duelist. "That memory is correct as well. This machine can be sacrificed to double an Ally's power." Right now he had no second Ally of Justice, but that was about to change. "Cosmic Gateway." Because there was still one light-monster on Carters field, the Ojama token, a second Cosmic Portal(2400/1200) could be special summoned. "And now.." But before he could unleash his combo, a trap appeared that sucked away their dark auras. "I will not let you! The Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror seals the effects of all dark monsters!" Unlimiter could not tribute itself.

"..That curse." He had not expected the mirror. "This card was in my deck, ever since I had to face a demon that impersonated my brother." It was a permanent effect, all his shadow machines were rendered powerless. "Ah. My comrades spoke about that time. The day they allowed the Magus to pass into the human world." He placed a trap card down afterwards. "I am glad that they were deceived." His turn was over. "Glad? That moment brought nothing but horrors!" William drew again. "I lost friends because of that facade, because I was 'fooled'!" He summoned Harvest - the Angel of Wisdom(1800/1000), not even caring that it was a Light-type monster. "I will not stop until I have made up for all that!" Harvest destroyed the Unlimiter with light magic, and the Fortress Dragon destroyed the Ally Gateway. Only the latter attack caused damage to the priest of darkness. "So that is your emotion. Guilt." Machina Armored Unit activated after the death of the Cosmic Closer, bringing out a multi-weapon drone, the Omniweapon(2200/800)

Priest Almagests LP: 4400

"You color yourself wrongly, you have allowed bliss into the world. When this duel ends, you will see it that way too." He then normal summoned the lasersword-wielding Ally of Justice, Garadholg(1600/400). "But for now, I shall remove the color of light from your world view. I use the Leeching Light spell." He activated a magic card that started to draw away holy energy from Harvest. "He is absorbing it?" The aura surrounded Garadholg(3400/400) and Omniweapon(4000/800). "Crap, he is!" Now both his machines were stronger than the Fortress Dragon. "Then attack me." William remained unflinching. "I shall." Garadholg immediately sliced the Chimeratech machine in half. "Then I activate the virus curse: Eradicator Epidemic Virus!" The Ally of Justice suddenly exploded into tiny viral fragments. "That trap?" William used that once himself, it sacrificed a powerful dark monster to destroy all traps or spells on the field. "Trap." And he used it to take out the Mirror. "Now my Allies regain their effects. And when Omniweapon slays a light-creature, I can draw a card. If it is a dark machine, it shall be called upon as well" The omniweapon pulled out a large drill. "But I had another trap set. Which I use before the virus can claim it; Nightmare Archfiends!"

Williams LP: 5500

"I sacrifice Harvest to special summon three archfiend tokens to your field!" The angel disappeared and three ghostly demons(2000/2000) floated on the field of the priest. "They can attack all they want, Dark End Dragon(800/300) still can not be killed in battle thanks to Trust Guardian!" With Harvest gone there was only one light monster left "Then." The drill tore into the last Ojama token. "Draw." Omniweapons effect activated, and he managed to draw a dark machine after all. "Special summon the Ally of Justice - Cycle Reader." It was a mechanical spider-tuner(1000/1000). "Tuning?" And as soon as main phase 2 started, he tuned the level 5 Omniweapon with the level 3 machine it had summoned. "Synchro Summon level 8: Light Gazer." His latest Synchro was a UFO-like floating machine(2400/1600). "It gains strength for all the Light monsters in your cemetery." There were ten light monsters. The Gazer(4400/1600) became his strongest machine yet. "Damn it. Even now this guy is too strong." The others started to feel desperate.

Williams LP: 5200

_"There is only one card that can help me now." _But it waited in his extra deck, and not many cards could pull it out. "Draw!" Yet, by a stroke of fate, he drew it. "I play this: Overload Fusion!" He activated a fusing spell. "I fuse Cyber Dragon with all the other machines in my graveyard!" The cards removed included the three other Cyber monsters, causing Light Gazer(3800/1600) to lose attackpoints. "Cyber Dragon? But you never.." And Almagest realized when that one hit the grave. "Card Trooper.." He also realized that if had kept Cycle Reader in his hand, he could have prevented this. He could discard that Ally to remove a monster in the graveyard, like the Cyber Dragon which the fusion needed. "Chimeratech Overdragon!" He called the multi-headed machine behemoth(4000/4000), it gained a head and 800 attackpoints for each fusion material. "Each head can destroy a monster.. And I attack your Synchro and the fiend tokens!" A quadruple evolution blast illuminated the dark caves, wiping out the priests army. "He won?"

Priest Almagests LP: 0

"You.. " The priest dropped to one knee. "You did well." The arm he rested started to glow. "What..happens now?" William did not feel at ease, despite his victory. "Now you face one less opponent. My comrades will soon reveal themselves." His lower body gained the same radiance. "No. I mean.. what will happen to you?" He did not fade away like the others did. "Without Ba, I can not sustain my ethereal self. I will return to the great one." His current state was still unnerving to say the least. "Does this upset you?" William flinched, but shook his head. "No. I knew it would come to this. We can not expect to reach Seneska if we hesitate to duel with this knowledge." Almagest merely smiled. "Correct. But for all of our sakes.. I hope you see the folly of your ways, before none of you are left to act upon them.." His body exploded into a million purple light particles. "Gah!" The blast revealed a glowing sphere within, that made the area much clearer to their eyes. They could see where the tunnel went now. "...We can not waste time here, come on.."

And so they ran down the tunnel, seemingly going deeper and deeper into the bowels of this twisted world. "Is it me, or is it getting hotter?" Swat rolled down Colins forehead. "We can still experience heat at least. Maybe this is a sign that were are getting closer to the sun?" They soon saw a fierce red light in the distance, so Jacksons hopes seemed to come true. "Really hot." Unfortunately it was not exactly what they would have liked to see. "This light is just fire?" They ended up at a circular opening, smoke rose from the fiery depths into a large hole in the ceiling. "Lava even.." Cable looked down and saw the molten stone boil as if the volcano was still active. "If this was still the human world, this would have cooked us alive.." That they were 'dead' was their only salvation. "Then how do we proceed. Or is this supposed to be.." Soon the cave started to rumble. "Whu-oh." The Key in Carters hands began to tremble on its own. "The next.." And everyone put their backs against the wall as magma spewed upwards into the sky. From the volcanic flow, another priest emerged. "It's him!" This one William recognized. "I dueled you before.. Mulcifer!" It was the red sentinel, no longer masked and wearing a lot more armor. His Key was strapped to his left arm.

"I see that you have slain Almagest. Then indeed.. it is my turn." He unleashed flames across the field. "Hey, look out! We came here to duel, did we not!" Christine objected to this display. "Watch your tongue, woman. This is the domain Seneska granted me, I shall protect it as I see fit." He gazed over all the remaining duelists. "Almagest could not even destroy one of you. I shall not make that mistake. I shall not allow you to go further, without a sacrifice!" He narrowed his view down to one person, and that one recoiled as he saw the priests coming for him. "What, me?" In less then an instant, Mulcifer had cut off his path with a wall of fire. And then he stepped into the wall. "Your lifeforce is too insignificant to make a difference now. Your conversion will be the first of all remaining." He extended his hand, letting lava cover it and shape a dueldisk on his hand. "Tsk. I knew I was gonna have to duel again with my lifepoints. Just not this soon." He saw no way out of this. He could just as well comply and activate his own disk. "Colin!" The others now surrounded the flames, but saw no way of getting through. "It is okay guys. This was inevitable." He inserted his deck into the device. "But I sure as hell will not go down without a fight!"

Colins LP: 650 Mulcifers LP: 8000

"Fear me, or do not fear me. I care not." Mulcifer began the game. "You are all the same to me anyway." He placed one monster facedown and ended his turn. "Meanwhile I can see why you call yourself different. At least Almagest appeared to have some respect." Sairve summoned the Herald of Creation(1800/1600). "Almagest was too kind. He would rather delay you then defeat you. My deck on the other hand is built for a swift fiery demise. In this domain no creatures of water and mist can survive. So choose your elements wisely." The priest smirked. "I think I did... I attack!" The Herald fired light magic from her staff, blowing his facedown to smithereens. "You slew the Flamvell Poun. When that spirit is slain, a monster with 200 defense enters my arsenal." But then he activated a continuous trap. "Curse of Backfire; every time a fire creature burns out. Its last few embers will touch your skin." He lost 500 LP because he destroyed the Poun. "As well, Pouns effect activates." The death of the fire monkey(200/200), allowed him to add a Firedog to his hand. "Flamvell?" William did not recall him using that archetype during their match. "This army of spirits was granted to me, by the memories of your world.. and those of my new Lord."

"That's nice." Colin placed one trap card facedown. "Now show me that swift death of yours." The traps would have to safeguard his lifepoints. "I shall. Come; dog of fire." He normal summoned the Flamvell Firedog(1900/200). "And burn the Herald to the ground." The beast swiped at the Colins spellcaster, and the wounds he made torched her form the inside out. "And when the Firedog slays a monster, its master can invoke another fire spirit with 200 defense." He special summoned a Flamvell Grunika(1700/200). "Oh no!" A direct attack from the dragon pyro would be the end for their friend. "Ah but you gave me battle damage. That means I can do this!" From his hand he special summoned his own monster. "Tragoedia cometh!" The demonic spider(1800/1800) appeared, gaining 800 attackpoints for each card in his controllers hand.

Colins LP: 50

"You presume to stop me with this?" But the enemy discarded a monster from his hand too. "Flamvell Baby. By severing this, another Flamvell creature gains strength." Grunika(2100/200) became stronger than Tragoedia. "And when the dragon claims a spirit, its master shall lose lifepoints for all of its stars." And the demon had as much as ten stars. "No!" Grunika set Tragoedia ablaze. "Wait." But instead of losing ten times 200 lifepoints, his life had gone up by two thousands. "That is not possible.." The flames of Grunika had killed the demon, but the effect damage was absorbed by a monolith. "What? Habe you never heard of traps before?" The Energy-Aborbing Monolith trap had converted damage to lifeforce. "But thanks for the boost there, Mulcifer. Now I do not have feel so bad about my previous duel.." He drew another card. "If you think I am just going to roll over and die, after what I let happen to Ananka and Prospero, you do not know me very well! Hearing that makes he want to do everything in my power to beat you!"

Colins LP: 2050

Elsewhere the new Lord sat on her throne. **"Does it bother you.. Zevgar?"** And with her were two priests, one shrouded in green and one shrouded in brown.** "For you to still be here, while those children threaten my plans.." **Zevgar rose from his kneeling position. "Forgive us, My Lord, for showing your eye our feelings. But you must know we are not conflicted by the memories of who the invaders are." He said, as her Millennium Eye had obviously read their minds. **"You should return to the borders of your element. It is natural to be shaken after the fall of Almagest, considering your faith. I know how determined their wills can be. Yet hesitation will allow them to reach even me.." **She smiled. "We understand, lord. We shall not fail you." The other one spoke and bowed. **"You are excused then." **The two priests left the large throne room. Leaving just her and the black portal behind her. _"But even without their shadows absorbed, the gate of Alkahest is already strong enough to unleash the third process.."_

(To be Continued in New Testament 107: Pyromania)

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Nightmare Archfiends

**New Cards used Priest Almagest  
**Ally of Justice - Unlimiter  
Ally of Justice - Omni-Weapon  
Ally of Justice - Garadholg  
Ally of Justice - Cycle Reader  
Ally of Justice - Light Gazer

-  
Beginning of the End  
Leeching the Light

-  
Eradicator Epidemic Virus

**New Cards used by Priest Mulcifer  
**Flamvel Poun  
Flamvell Firedog  
Flamvell Grunika  
Flamvell Baby

-  
Backfire


	107. Pyromania

**New Testament 107: Pyromania**

Priest Mulcifers LP: 8000 Colins LP: 2050

'My turn!" Colin narrowly escaped a one-turn kill and even managed to boost his lifepoints. "Since you control monsters and I do not, I can special summon Level Warrior from my hand!" The star-themed hero appeared(300/600). "Then I activate two spell cards: Level Award and Advance Force! The first allows me to change the level of my monster." He boosted the level 4 warrior up to level 5. "The second allows me to tribute summon a highlevel monster with only one sacrifice. If it is level 5 or higher." Thus he used the spell to bring out his level 7 trump monster: Greed Quasar(2100/2100) who gained 300 points for each of its stars. "It attacks the Firedog!" The intergalactic demon stretched its arms out and feasted on the Flamvell beast. "Greed gains the 4 stars of the monster!" The demon(3300/3300) became a level 11 monster. "Heh I lived long enough to hurt you." He ended his turn, having no more cards in his hand. "So even if you crush me. I wont be forgotten so easily." The priest drew his next card. "I will not. But you will..forget."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 7800

"Tribute summon." He tributed Flamvell Grunika. "Sixth level: Flamvell Commando. It can only be summoned through the sacrifice of a Flamvell." The commando(2200/200) grabbed an enormous cannon. "And once per turn, it removes a monster with 200 defense from the cemetery, to direct its attackpower towards the enemy." Everyone gasped. "A burn effect?" The Flamvell Baby was removed from play. "Gah!" And the cannon blasted Colin with 800 points worth of damage. "Turn end." The attack had bathed him in fire. He only survived because he was not really alive in this place. "Why you.." But the pain was tremendous. "The Rich get Richer!" In his turn he played a spell, one that let him draw twice while he controlled a highlevel monster. "Feh." But there were no monsters in his hand, even after that. He could only strike with one. "Take this!" Greed attacked again, swallowing the Flamvell cannoneer. The quasar demon(5100/5100) gained its six stars. "Again..the Backfire." But he could hurt him again due to this continuous trap.

Priest Mulcifers LP: 6700 Colins LP: 750

Colin placed his two cards facedown and ended his turn. "And now our game ends." He summoned a red scaled fire dragon(1100/200). "Flamvell Dragnov. When it is killed in battle, my enemies will be burned." Its effect combined with Backfire would ensure the destruction of all the life Colin had left. "Do you think I would be dumb enough to attack it?" He chuckled. "No. That is why I am willing to make a sacrifice of my own." Dragnov suddenly rushed towards Greed Quasar. "Is he crazy!" While this would hurt him a lot, it would definitely kill Sairve. "Damn it. I do not want to go down like that!" He activate one of his traps. "Level Limit Area C! All monsters of level four or lower can not attack!" A trap's aura took control of the Flamvell forcing it to stop its charge. "I die how I choose to die, okay?" Mulcifer placed a trap down. "Hmph, so be it." His turn was over. "He survived that one." Nero sighed. "But how will he get around Dragnov now?" He could not kill it without losing at least 500 lifepoints. "Oh I know how.. sheer overkill that is how." Sairve drew.

_Level Limit Area C, Continuous Spell  
__If you do not control a level 5 or higher monster card, destroy this card. Monsters with a level of 4 or lower cannot attack or change positions._

"I place one card down. And activate my other!" He revealed a trap called: Give and Take. "With this trap, I 'Give' you a monster from my cemetery!" And he chose to hand Tragoedia over to Mulcifer. "This card?" Because of the three cards in his hand, Tragoedia(1800/1800) gained three powerboosts. "But I 'Take' its levels for my own! The ten stars of Tragoedia will be added to Greed Quasar!" In a heartbeat the demon(8100/8100) leveled up, reaching the 27th star. "I have never seen such a highleveled monster." Cable was amazed by the combo. "Yes and now it does not matter what it kills. If I destroy Dragnov, you will lose 7000 lifepoints before I take the effect damage!" He entered the battle phase. "Here I.." But before he could target the Flamvell dragon, it attacked him. "What the.." Fire burst right through his chest.

Colins LP: 0

"Huh? How did he.." They all saw his life drop, but he had not killed anything yet. "His trap did it." Madlyn pointed to the second facedown card, which Mulcifer had just revealed. "Spiritual Fire Art - Kurenai. I offer a fire elemental, and convert its offensive magic into damaging magic." Dragnov's sacrifice gave Sairve 1100 effect damage. "Damn.. it." He coughed, as fire started to eat away at his body. "I should have just.. let Dragnov hit me." He regretted going for the kill, he had done less damage than Mulcifers own suicide attack would have done. "Colin. It is okay, we will take him down for you." Jackson tried to reassure his disappearing friend. "No. I knew this would happen. I pushed my luck..I should consider myself fortunate to at least have avenged Ananka." He smiled, while he still could. "I know you will not fail like I did. And I will.. never forget this." He looked at Mulcifer. "No matter what..anyone says." And with that glare passed, his eyes shrivelled up as well. His soul had been banished from the realm of fire. "No.."

"Next." The wall of fire opened again, allowing one person to enter. "Damn it. Now you let us choose? Now that the element of surprise is gone?" William figured he would have been targeted next, but Mulcifer was not even consistent in that regard. "I would like to have a go at him myself." Nero was enraged as well. "Calm down guys. If we go at him with our tempers flaring, we will fall into his trap." Elias said, though even he was sad to see another loss. "Then I will be his opponent." Not giving anyone else the chance to object, Christine stepped into the ring of fire. "Rose!" Nero ran towards it as well, but the hole closed up already. "Too late now." Madlyn smirked. She was glad to see that Christine was so straight-forward. "Let her do this." The others could not stop her now anyway. "Tsk. Good luck Christine." They could only cheer her on. "Thanks." She activated her dueldisk and looked at her opponent. "A woman I see. To face me like this takes courage.. You are worthy of facing me." He drew his next card. "Let's get this over with."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 6700 Christine's LP: 8000

As she expected, the lifepoints Mulcifer had lost were not back again. "Draw." What she had not expected however, was that the field stayed the same. Despite having Lost, Colins monsters and traps were still by her side. Then again Tragoedia was still on his side. "Let us be rid of the remnants of that man." Mulcifer did not enjoy the presence of Greed Quasar, he activated a continuous spell that both William and Christine had seen before. "Blaze Accelerator." Proving that he still had some of his old tricks left, Mulcifer activated the fire cannon. "I send Flamvell Guard from my hand to the cemetery, to destroy 1 monster my enemy controls." The volcanic cannon fired the Flamvell away, shooting down Greed Quasar(5100/5100). "Oh.." Because there no longer was a highlevel monster on her field, Level Limit Area C was destroyed as well. "But he can not attack while the Accelerator fires.." Carter remembered that drawback. "Indeed. Therefore Tragoedia will remain in defense, and I set one monster facedown." He ended his turn.

"You act as if your previous opponent did not matter at all." She drew her cards. "Did he? The damage he did to me was negligible, it will not hinder my performance during the next few fights." He glanced at the ones outside the firewall. "You have not defeaten me yet." She noticed this. But she also noticed a card in her hand. _"This monster is still in my deck? Or rather, it is in my deck at all?" _It seemed she had strong enough memories to a certain person to hold on to his card. "Then I summon it: The Twin Sword Marauder!" The warrior with blades for hands(1600/1000) was her first normal summon of the game. "That card? Was it not from Ceasar?" William had seen him use it when they first met him. "You could call his sacrifice similar to Colins. But anyway.." She entered the battle phase. "Twin Sword inflicts piercing damage! And when it attacks a defending monster, it can attack twice!" The Marauder used the swords on his left hand to cut down Tragoedia(800/800), while the swords on the right stabbed the facedown monster. "Hmph. His facedown monster turned out to be a fiery bowman, the Flamvell Archer(1000/200). Due to the two piercing blows, Mulcifer's life was decreased significantly. "But you lose life because of the Backfire curse.."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 4500 Christine's LP: 7500

She had almost forgotten about that card. "Then I will end my turn by placing a trap down." At least she made some progress. "Now I shall strike." He had no fire monsters in his hand whose attack was lower than 500, so Accelerator was useless. "Neo Flamvell Hedgehog." He called out a fiery urchin(800/200). "Neo?" And before it could be admired or feared, it was destroyed. "Hey.." Instead a large pot holding fiery souls appeared(2200/1800). "Oh! That is the Pyre of Malice." Cable recognized that card. "It can be special summoned when the player controls a fire monster, in which case that fire monster is destroyed." And since the Hedgehog was 'destroyed', Backfire took another 500 LP from the dueling girl. "Indeed. Furthermore, when this Neoflamvell is destroyed by an effect, another monster with equal defense is added to my hand." He added a Neoflamvell Origin to his hand. "Goka.. destroy the Twin Breaker." The cauldron unleashed all the burning spirits within, which reduced the warrior to ashes. "Trap card: Desperate Tag!" However rose activated a continuous trap stopped the overflowing flames. "When a warrior dies, I can ignore the damage I take and summon a new warrior from my hand." She called out Diane Baxter(1900/1200).

Christine's LP: 7000

"Then it is your turn." He could do nothing else, his hand only had one card. "Then I shall not waste it." During her standby phase, she gained 500 LP from the healer "I summon Armor Breaker." The union hammer wielder(800/800) showed up to almost immediately equip itself to Diane. "I equip her with magic too: Diane's Bow!" The healer gained a bow that strengthened her. "Now Diane(2400/1200) is switched to defense mode, but she can attack even in that stance." She crouched down and loaded her weapon with an arrow. "She attacks Goka!" The arrow was released and it pierced the metal shell, causing the Pyre monster to explode in a hail of flames. Some of which burned her thanks to his trap. "With Armor Breaker equipped, I can destroy a card on the field when she does damage to my opponent. And I destroy Backfire." But that card was soon taken care off. "I end my turn." She was doing well. But Mulcifer's expression showed either signs of aggravation, or satisfaction. "Enough games, this is going too slowly.."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 4300 Christine's LP: 7000

_Diane's Bow, Equip Spell  
__The monster card equipped with this card gains 500 attack points and is switched to face-up defense position.  
__If 'Diane Baxter - The Healer' is equipped with this card she can attack while in defense position. _

He summoned the Royal Firestorm Guards(1700/1200). "I return four Pyro-spirits to my deck, and draw twice." Flamvell Poun, Dragnov, Guard and Commando were sent back to his lava-like dueldisk. ".." Two more cards were added to his hand, a monster and a spell. "Burning Vein.. " Blaze Accelerator suddenly blew up. "With the destruction of magic, I can draw twice." He added even more cards to his hand. The others realized he was after one particular card. And his smile was not good news. "With this, I win." He played the spell; Rekindling. "That card? That is bad! It revives all fire monsters with 200 defense!" Cable knew what that spell could do. "What?" Four flames emerged, Neoflamvell Hedgehog(800/200), Flamvell Firedog(1900/200), Flamvell Grunika(1700/200) and Flamvell Archer(1000/200). "No..Rose!"

"Flamvell Archer can sacrifice a fire-creature to empower another." The archer shot through the Hedgehog and the Firedog. The formers fiery demise added more flames to the beast(2700/200). "Is he going to kill Diane with that?" However they soon realized that Archer had another quality. "Tuner monster?" Mulcifer nodded. "Synchro summon, the Ancient one!" The level 3 archer combined with Royal Firestorm Guards, to bring out a level 7 blazing god(2500/200). "Ancient Flamvell Deity. It removes monsters in your graveyard, up to the number of cardfs in your hand. And the Deity gains power for each of those cards." She had two cards in her hand, so two cards were removed by the Synchro(2900/200). "Then when a Flamvell is on my field, and less than four cards are in the enemy's cemetery; Neoflamvell Origin can be special summoned from my hand." A blue fireball(500/200) appeared. It too was a tuner. "Second level Origin and fourth level Grunika." He synchro summoned again, combining the dragon and blue flame into a level 6 flame-fist fighter; Flamvell Uruquizas (2100/400). "And for my final card. I special summon it by removing a fire creature in my grave.. Flame Spirit Ifrit." A devil-like fire spirit(1700/1000) joined the Flamvell monsters.

"This combined assault will end you, woman. You fought bravely, but you could not win. Your sacrifice is just another down the road of perdition." He entered his battle phase. _"Damn it. Can't she do anything?" _Nero saw no way out, except for.. "Christine! The trap!" He yelled at her. "Trap?" She blinked and looked down. "Colin left it.. he must have meant for someone else to use it! If you inherited his field, you inherited that card too!" He was right, there was one trap left on the field. "Too late! The next sacrifice is now!" The firedog charged towards the healing archer. "Okay! I will honour his last gift! I activate the trap card!" But a forcefield pushed the beast back. "Negate Attack?" She had flipped Colins favorite lifesaver, the counter that ended the battle phase. "Mulcifer. Colins affected you after all. Thanks to him, I can still bring you down!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 108: Seeing Red)

**New Cards used by Colin Sairve  
**Advance Force

Level Limit Area C

Give and Take

**New Cards used by Christine Rose  
**_Diane's Bow_

-  
Desperation Tag

**New Cards used Priest Mulcifer  
**Flamvell Commando  
Flamvell Dragnov  
Flamvell Guard  
Flamvell Archer  
Neoflamvell Hedgehog  
Goka, Pyre of Malice  
Ancient Flamvell Deity  
Neoflamvell Origin  
Flamvell Uruquizas  
Spirit of Flames

_-  
Burning Vein(+)  
_Rekindling

-  
Spiritual Fire Art - Kurenai  
_(+) Based on the spell Blast Vein from YGO GX (Also see 'Old Testament chapter 017)_


	108. Seeing Red

**New Testament 108: Seeing Red**

Priest Mulcifers LP: 4300 Christine's LP: 7000

Negate Attack, the trap placed by Colin Sairve before he was beaten, had saved Christine Rose. "Hmph." Mulcifer and his army of Flame spirits could not get through to her. "Your turn." Instead of taking her lifepoints out, she was restoring them. Diana Baxter(2400/1200) healed Christine by 500 points every standby phase. "Then I counterattack." With her bow equipped, Diane could attack while defending. "I target the Firedog." The beast(1900/1200) had lost its attackboost from Flamvell Archer, so she could shoot it down. "Then Armor Breaker targets the Flamvell god!" Because the Breaker was equipped to the Healer, Rose could destroy a card every time her monster inflicted damage. Ancient Flamvell Deity(2900/200) was its latest victim. This left only Flamvell Uruquizas(2100/400) and Spirit of Flames(1700/1000). "See. This is what happened because Colin left behind one card. We are not in this alone, you can not just pick us off one at a time." Christine's spirit had been lifted by this turn of events. "Nothing is certain..woman."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 3800

"I shall not relent." He activated Molten Destruction. "This place was not volcanic enough yet apparently.." The lava geysers gained even more power, as molten rock and flame spewed out from all sides. The new heat empowered the fire monsters (Uruquizas: 2600/0, Spirit of Flames: 2200/600). "Strike.." And the pyro brawler punched Diane with a flaming fist. "It inflicts piercing damage?" Christine took 1400 damage from the blow, even though her monster was in defense mode. And every time Uruquizas(2900/0) gained more offense every time it hurt the enemy. "Indeed." However she could keep her monster alive by letting Armor Breaker take the deathblow. However there was one more attack to come. "Ifrit." The fire devil(2500/600) unleashed his flames upon the healer, killing her for good. "I still have Desperate Tag!" She wanted to use her continuous trap again, to special summon a warrior from her hand. "I was waiting for that. Counter curse: Flamvell Counter." He removed Ancient Flamvell Deity to fuel his counter trap. "It nullifies your 'trap card'." The Tag-out trap was shattered by the fiery soul of the fire god. "Blast.." She had Queens Knight and Kings Knight in her hand. With her trap she could have started the card knight combo. Not anymore.

Christine's LP: 5600

"I set one monster and one trap card facedown and end my turn." Now all she could was defend herself. Though with the piercer Synchro around, that would not keep her alive for much longer. "Then I shall try to finish your suffering once more." He had at last gotten a monster, which he summoned by tributing the Spirit of Flames. "Fifth level Pyro, Flamvell Fiend." A blue flame devil(2600/800) surfaced from the lava rivers. "When it's flames touch you, you will lose lifeforce for each Pyro spirit in my cemetery." There were eight (Archer, Hedgehog, Origin, Firestorm Guards, Grunika, Firedog, Deity and Ifrit), so one attack would inflict 1600 effect damage and 2600 battle damage. _"That is a hit I can not afford to take." _Rose thought as Uruquizas punched out her facedown Queens Knight(1500/1600). She already lost 1300 lifepoints while it(3200/0) gained more attackpoints. "Warriors Pride! This trap revives a warrior that was killed in battle!" The Queen returned in defense mode. "And she can not be killed in battle!" So the Fiends attack was stopped.

Christine's LP: 4300

"You are persistant." Again Mulcifer was out of cards. He started to wonder about his chances. "Determined is the word." She drew again. Now she could finally begin her combo. "King's Knight" The second card knight(1600/1400) joined the side of his queen. "Together they summon the third Knight!" Jack's Knight(1900/1000) was special summoned from his deck. "Then I will activate the spell card: Power Converter." Jack's Knight gained a cybernetic armor. "By equipping it to Jack, I can reduce his attackpower to zero and gain lifepoints equal to his attack!" Her life went up to 6200. "You will not get anywhere with stalling and restoring life. Almagest should have told you that much." Mulcifer scoffed. "I am not stalling. I am also moving in for the kill." She had one last spell to play. "Polymerization!" The three knights became one. The result was the Arcana Knight, Joker(3800/2500). "Vanquish the Synchro!" The fused knight took out his sword and plunged it into the chest of Flamvell Uruquizas. "Now. How will you answer to this?"

Priest Mulcifers LP: 3200 Christine's LP: 6200

"I have no answer.. to that kind of power. No answer but one.." He placed a trap card down in his turn, and switched Flamvell Fiend to defense mode. "Fear.." He was done, but he sounded confident in his trap's ability to defend him. "..." And seeing as how he did not use it right away, it had to be a card that only worked when she declared an attack. "Draw!" Yet to wait for an option to remove the trap was not wise, time was of the essence. "Then I shall not show it. I will attack right now!" Joker took up his blade once more. "Then you will suffer. The curse: Chaos Burst." Only to have his target explode on him. "This 'trap' sacrifices my monster to destroy yours, and you will lose lifeforce at the same time!" The explosive energy headed towards her fusion warrior. "If I am to be beaten, I shall burn my enemies as much as I can!"

"But I will not let you!" Christine discarded the trap card, Reduction Barrier, from her hand. "What?" Joker raised his shield to defend against the flames. "I can throw a trap from my hand away, to negate an effect that targets my monster!" The Arcana Knight endured the Chaos Burst. "You drew a trap of all things?" And now Mulcifer did not even have a defending monster left. "Your mistake was to rely on damaging effects. Had you tried to delay us like Almagest, you would not have lost here." Nothing stood between the priest and her Knight's sword. "Direct attack!" One swing whittled away the rest of his lifepoints. "So it ends like this." This time the flames started to tear down his body. "But even now, I will take my satisfaction.. in knowing that I have weakened your offense." He looked at the opening above. "It is almost time.. Two more changes await all worlds, yet you still have to defeat four more enemies. And.." He smiled. "The last process... takes the least amount of time. So I thank you, for letting me serve Lord Seneska one last time."

Priest Mulcifers LP: 0

Then their second enemy disappeared. "Yes! Another one down!" The wall of fire dropped as well. "You did it Christine!" Cable cheered. "And you retained most of your lifepoints as well." William noted that she had even more left than he did after his duel. "Thanks. But I could not have done this without Colin." She sighed. "It took two to defeat this priest. But we can not afford to lose each time we face one." Nor could they afford to lose too much lifepoints, or else they would be picked off one by one. "We should move on. Wherever the next stage is." It did not look that simple to leave the smouldering volcano. "I am worried about what he said however. About the last process not taking that much time." If they had watches or phones or anything of the like, they could have checked how much hours they had been dueling already. "Yeah and he did say that it was almost time. What did he mean by.." Just then the place started to rumble. "Uh oh." And it was not volcanic activity, the lava had disappeared once Mulcifer left. "It is happening right now?"

"What is .. this?" The sky was no longer colorless. "Gold?" But it was not normal either, this new golden radiance that replaced the white void. "Third..step." Outside she saw people staring at the sky, with blissful expressions etched on their faces. It was the same inside the building, Prospero looked out another window without a care in the world. "This.. is what you dreamed off?" He had spoken of it before, and Prospero had seen it in a vision before. "Yes. Beautiful isn't it?" And then she saw the first signs of change, the same golden color flickered in the psychics eyes. "You.. feel good?" And the second change was even more drastic, as he and all the humans outside started to glow as if they were made of light. "I feel warm." And before Jane could do anything about it, or ask more questions, the other disappeared entirely. "..?" So did the people outside. But they left something behind. "Strange.." As the light faded, a reflective silver-like statue of that person stayed behind. It was this way around the entire world, light headed into the skies.

"Gold life.. in exchange for a silver shadow.." Prospero was not the only one however, one of the duelists laying down in bed started to light up as well. "Him?" Colin Sairve's body underwent the same process, turning into pure energy and leaving behind a silver shell. He did not even go through the first phase anymore. "He was.. beaten. Like the psychic?" She figured that Colin had to have suffered the same kind of defeat. Now she could tell who was and who was not losing up in the other world. "Jack.." Two were gone, seven remained. "If only..I could be there." But she could not follow, she was the last shadow still on the planet. Or so she thought. "What?" A loud bang echoed throughout the orphanage, someone had knocked down the front door. "It was open." A girl complained. "We were in a hurry, right?" A man spoke back. "Who are you?" Jane was quick to meet the intruders downstairs. "..You." She recognized the pair; Rivet and Catherine. "We knew we'd find you here." The former smiled. "Jane Doe. We came her to.. join forces."

**"Third Process.. Citrinitas." **Lord Seneska observed how her magnum opus reach its third stage, she could see all the light leave the human world. She could sense the thoughts of all mankind headed towards the next life. **"The realm of heart has no more purpose. The third process is to remove mortality and physical limits from the soul." **If Nigredo had erased the shadow and spirit, Albedo erased the heart and name, Citrinitas would merge what was left. The Ba. **"The golden color of eternal life abandons the silver reflection. Those shells are all that remain of their former selves, their last connection to imperfection."** Behind her wa sthe gate of Alkahest. No longer black, it was brightly colored. And slowly it started to glow red.** "And when the gate is strong enough to go to the final stage: Rubedo will melt down those remnants. Humanity will be united as one perfect being.. forever." **She clenched her hand. **"And I shall be the one above all. I shall be the new god.. Raness."**

"Whoah..." Elias trembled. "What's wrong?" Visibly enough for the others to notice. "I just.. got something. A pulse from the Puzzle." He took it out from under his uniform. "It is like the Pharaoh.. is in pain. Whatever has happened in the outside world, has to be bad." He had not sensed anything from the Millennium Puzzle since he got it back, and certainly not a jolt like this. "Then we are running out of time. We have to reach the next priest and fast." Though they still saw no way out of the volcano. "A rotten trick, to leave us stuck here." The only way out was back through the caves. "If it was that simple, they would have done that instead of challenging us." There had to be a way out. "Wait." He noticed the Millennium scales Christine had put down on the floor. "It is tilting downwards?" One of the cups was weighed down, even when nothing was in it. It pointed to the hole at the center of the volcano. "..we have to go down that way?" It did feel colder down there. "Colin would call it a crazy idea. But if we are 'dead', then there should be no harm." Everyone looked at each other and nodded. "We have nowhere else to go." They were ready, especially Madlyn. "This will be fun." She even jumped in first, the others soon made the same lep of faith.

The fall was not really that long, nor did they feel like they were in a normal fall. Gravity had almost no effect on them, they slowly floated down into the cold area deep down. "Light?" Strangely the shadows lessened with every decrease in altitude, and the air got colder too. Eventually they landed softly on solid ground, in a clearing no longer made of rocks. "Ice?" Instead they were surrounded by structures of ice, stalagmites and icicles covered the ceiling and floor. They did not expect this at the bottom of a volcano. "The light is coming from over there." Christine pointed at a hole in the side, from which the glow came that was reflected by the freezing walls. "Well I will gladly move out of here." Elias and the other duelists entered the tunnel which quickly took them to the outside world. A desolate white outside world. "This is.. not much better." It was like they stepped into the antarctic. "The landscaping here is unreal." Behind them was the volcano still, now they were at a frozen wasteland? "Greetings." And of course, they were not alone..

"There is the third. I can guess who he is going to be." William had dueled two sentinels back in the world of shadows, a fire fighter.. and an ice fighter. "Fimbulvin." Opposite of them stood a priest whose robes were white, but his armor was blue and silver. "We meet a second time." He took off his mask, revealing a rather pale face. It was pale in comparison to the other egyptians at least. "An ice duelist. He must be the one who owned the Scales back in his time." Cable could guess what kind of deck he would have too. "I see.. no weakness. You did well." His blue eyes gazed over every duelist and their lifepoints. "But now I have to ask you; which one shall be my first?" He extended his arm and formed an icy dueldisk by freezing the water in the air. "The ice will not leave this world.. until I will it. So I ask again.. who will be my first?"

(To be Continued in New Testament 109: One More Winter)

**New Cards used Priest Mulcifer  
**Flamvell Fiend

-  
Molten Destruction

-  
Flamvell Counter  
Chaos Burst


	109. One more Winter

**New Testament 109: One more Winter**

"Thanks to your friends, we could not prevent this. If the Orichalcos satellite had taken up all souls around the globe with the network installed, then they would not have been taken away by this golden light." Catherin explained while Rivet looked at his reflection in a random silver statues. "But that would not.. bring their shadows back." Jane retorted. "Aye. The boss did intend to use that part for our own gain. We would have been able to rule the world after all the blissful people were left in despair after missing their chance at perfection." The scarred man chuckled. "No sense in calling us heinous now. We are the last shadows left on earth." He pointed at the floor, the hall lights casted three shadows on the floor. "Then what do you want?" Jane stepped in front of the stairway to the bodies up above. "We wish you no harm. We think we can help your friends. We think we can help Jackson Doe." She flinched when that name was spoken. "You do care about him.. we know." Catherine smiled. "And we believe he will be the most important factor in our plan."

"I will be your first." Jackson said as he stepped onto the ice. "Are you sure Jack?" Cable asked, though he did not really know why he was objecting. "We can not tell in advance what will happen. We have to take the risks." He activated his dueldisk. "He is right. In this cold environment, I do not know if earth or fire will do well." Carter and Rose were already weakened, Fraser, Halliday and Jacobus had decks that probably would not do well here. "Fimbulvin. I shall duel you." The ex-symbolist stood face to face with the pale priest. "It saddens me, that we face each other like this. But you too must be converted to the path of righteousness." Fimbulvin added cards to her icy dueldisk. "Saddens you?" Jackson drew his cards. "Yes. Because you.." So did his opponent. "Are the one touched by the angels."

Jacksons LP: 8000 Fimbulvins LP: 8000

"One monster hides itself, and that is all from me." The priest had set a monster and given the turn to Jackson already. "The angels.." He must have meant the one whose mere presence had fragmented his mind. "I did nothing to deserve that encounter. I was just a man.." He summoned Asura, the Symbol of the Sun(1400/1000) "But that experience revealed to you the many facets of your inner soul. Your darkness and your light were all brought to the surface." Fimbulvin almost sounded like he envied him. "The many facets indeed. And that is why.. I will fight to preserve them. I attack!" The many-armed Persona shone a ray of light on Fimbulvins facedown, destroying what appeared to be an ice-blue bird(300/500). "Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier, has been killed in battle. I now draw one card." That was the effect of the bird. "Ice Barrier? Is that her theme?" William noticed that, like Mulcifer, he was using new monsters. "Then I set a trap and end my turn." The priest drew again. "All the facets? Even the symbols that stand for darkness?"

Jackson did not answer. "Of course, that is why you are here.. It is why we are all here." He activated a spell card. "Water Hazard. Every turn, if no water spirits exist on my side, one of the fourth or lower level will rise from the waters." A wave swept over the ice, special summoning a blue-robed mage youth(400/1000) in defense mode. "Warlock of the Ice Barrier. Neither duelist can use magic right away." The Warlock would make them set it down first. "Then the Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier." Next to the youth was an older man in blue robes(1600/1200). "Spirit Monster?" Cable knew this was normally the type of monster that returned to the owners hand during the endphase. "Yes. But this spirit can return someone else, if a fellow Ice Barrier resident stands next to it." The two Ice barrier monsters held hands and created a snowstorm that pushed Asura back into Jacksons hand. "The turn is yours, symbolist." It seemed that rather than trigger his trap, the priest was content with resetting the field of his enemy. "A strange tactic.."

_"I can not use spells unless I hold them facedown for one turn. But if that is what he wants.."_ He did not like falling for traps. "From the sun to the moon, I summon Seth." The lunar symbol dragon(1400/1000) floated above the frozen fields. "It attacks the Warlock!" Seth was not strong enough to kill the spirit, but at least now he could destroy the spellcaster that blocked spells. "It is gone.." Fimbulvin sighed as the Warlock fell through the ice. "Then now I can use this card: Polymerization." He used the fusing spell. "With this I fuse light and darkness, Seth and Asura in my hand, to form the Hellbiker!" A hellish bike rider(2500/2000) drove through the ice, melting everything in its path. "Fire? But wont that be harmless in this place?" Nero wondered. "If I am right, fire should conquer ice instead." Jackson smirked and ended his turn. "Then I call the Geomancer of the Ice Barrier." He normal summoned a female in blue robes, holding a mirror in front of her head. "By severing one card, one type will not be able to attack while she is alive." He discarded a spell from his hand, Ojamagic. "What?" When that was discarded, the player could add Ojama Black, Yellow and Green to his hand. "Why would he use that? It conflicts with his theme..right?"

_Hell Biker, Symbol of the Hanged Man, 9/2500/2000 Fire/Fiend/Fusion  
__Light Persona monster + Dark Persona monster  
__This monster can only be summoned through a fusion summon made with the above fusion material monsters.  
__Monster: When the last effect resolves, look at your opponent's hand, select 1 monster card among them and discard it to the Graveyard.  
__Spell: When the last effect resolves, look at your opponent's hand, select 1 spell card among them and discard it to the Graveyard.  
__Trap: When the last effect resolves, look at your opponent's hand, select 1 trap card among them and discard it to the Graveyard._

"I declare the flame." The mirror reflected Hellbiker. "But now I can use the effect of Hellbiker. I can look at your hand and discard 1 monster from it!" The priest revealed his cards. "Ah. You have two, I pick the highleveled one." The rider drove towards Fimbulvin, attempting to burn the card Doe chose. "Those flames wont reach me." However the effect burned out before the card did. "What?" Fire was the weak element here after all. "I can not even use fire monsters effects against you, or your hand?" Doe did not think the attribute defense would go that far. "Yes. And now.. Synchro summon." The Geomancer was a level 3 tuner, he tuned it with the level 4 Spirit. "Gungnir of the Ice Barrier." A dragon(2500/1700) made of ice appeared, more fierce-looking than Dragon Ice. "By discarding two cards, two cards will be destroyed." And now they knew what the Ojama's were for. "Tsk." Hellbiker and the trap: Protection of One's Mind broke up into tiny ice fragments. "Direct attack." Leaving the persona duelist open to the dragons attack. "Jackson!"

Jacksons LP: 5500

"I was wrong, when I thought you were a defensive type." The hit was painful, and cold. "You hit hard when you hit. No mercy." But that was it, now he could retaliate. "Draw." And he had just what he needed. "I shall bring out another aspect that you threaten to erase... Mortality." He activated the spell Destiny Awaits, adding one Persona to his hand and then special summoning it. However his opponent would also be able to draw 1 card. "Norn of the Fortune." He summoned the clock angel(2200/2000) "Then, Id/Ego Separation. I call out Hell Bikers materials." Asura and Seth were also given new life. "I have three sacrifices." The others knew what Persona he planned to tribute summon. "Come.. Thanatos, symbol of Death." It was the black clad coffin-winged reaper(3500/3500). "Death? You worship that too, symbolist?" The priest shivered. "I do not. But I know that death is natural." The Arcana of death raised its black sword. "Reap the Norse dragon." With one swipe, it pulverized Gugnir, sending bits of ice all over the place.

Fimbulvins LP: 7000

_Id/Ego Separation, Normal spell  
__Remove 1 'Persona' fusion monster in your graveyard.  
__If all the fusion material monsters that were used for the fusion summon of that fusion monster are in your graveyard, you can special summon them all to the field._

"I fight for death as well, Priest. It is not our enemy." He ended his turn. "You do not fear it then, symbolist. But you have not experienced it yet. Your death was not like ours." Fimbulvin drew again. "It will be.. after this." A magic card was activated. "Triangle of the Ice Barrier. When three Ice Barriers are in my hand, one of them can be special summoned." And in his hand were in fact four Ice Barrier monsters, three of which formed a triangular pattern. "General Gantala." The top one took solid form, a muscular monk-like warrior with ice gauntlets(2700/2000). "Furthermore, a monster on the field will..shatter." The triangle suddenly enveloped Thanatos. "Be gone, death." The light erased its presence entirely, Jackson was defenseless for the second time. "No.." And he had not normal summoned yet. "Samurai of the Ice Barrier." An ice-armored bushido(1800/1500) cut through the ice to surface next to Gantala. "Direct strikes." They slashed and punched the duelist. "Gahhh!" And it was not the attacks that hurt, but the resulting biting coldness.

Jacksons LP: 1000

_"My arm.." _He was losing feeling in his limbs, the nerves could not take this much. "Even if you are nothing but lifeforce, the mind will never forget the pain of mortality. Not if you remain imperfect." He ended his turn. "tsk. Death will never go away!" During the endphase Thanatos revived itself(2400/2400), with less attack and defense points. "I know.. Gantala revives an Ice Barrier during the endphase as well." The ice crest behind the Generals back started to glow, freezing water in the air to reshape the Dragon Gungnir(2500/1700) in defense mode. "Damn it." Fimbulvin had plenty of cards in his hand to reuse the effect of that Ice Barrier monster. _"I have too destroy it, even if Gantala will just revive it again. Even if it does not hurt him." _Thanatos used the same sword to cut up the same synchro monster. "You are.. strong." He wheezed. This priest whittled down his lifeforce far quicker than the previous two had done. "But I am not.. gone yet. Persona non Grata. I discard it to reset Thanatos's effects." The reaper(3500/3500) regained his power.

"You are strong too. You may believe it to be fate that Raness chose you as his priest, but you entered his presence for a reason." Fimbulvin drew a card, though he did not seem happy with it. "Samurai, to defense mode, so that it may die and add a new ally to my hand." He switched his swordsman's position. And he promplty killed himself. "Whoa!" And through the Samurai's effect, Fimbulvin could draw again. This one he was pleased with. "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier." He summoned a level 2 tuner(1300/0). "Not again.." And it joined the level 7 general, as a level 9 Ice monster was synchro summoned. "Dragon of the Ice Barrier - Trishula." This time the ice dragon(2700/2000) had three heads. "What does this one do?" Jackson was afraid to ask. "You will not like the answer.. It removes a card from the hand, the cemetery..and the field." The three heads fired a blast of frost each. "Oh no..no.." Freezing up the last card in his hand, a Persona in his graveyard, and Thanatos. "Death has no place here, I banish it." Jackson's defeat was sealed.

"It was the only outcome. Perfection awaits you too. You will no longer mourn the loss of your unique mind after this." He entered the battle phase. "I never longed for that uniqueness. I enjoyed my life no matter what.." He protested, which was the only thing he could do. "You wont say that, soon." Trishula flew towards the symbolist and delivered the decisive killing blow with his claws. "Gghk." His dueldisk shattered like glass, his cards all fell in the cold water below. "Now then, your soul will be cleansed. All mortal flaws shall be left behind under the old sun, all purity.. joins the new sun." He dipped his hand in the water and pulled it back out, now holding the Millennium Scales. "It was there..?" Fimbulvin placed it in front of him, and looked at Doe. "Now, your darkness will be.. weighed.." Yet the scale tilted neither way. "...?" Jackson however felt a sudden pain in his chest. His heart was beating like a madmans. "This is not possible. Your shadow is not here.." The priest placed the scales away again. "If I can not erase your shadow.. where.."

Jacksons LP: 0

"Okay. Here is what we think. You have a unique connection with Jackson Doe. That may allow us to connect to wherever they were headed." Catherine opened a suitcase. "The satellite has been taken down. But as a last resort we have this." Inside was a small green jewel and a spell card. "That is.." Jane recognized it immediately. "Yes, the Orichalcos. The last known copy which Marcus hid even from our boss. He was more than willing to part with it now though." She took the card. "You were born from this power. With it, who knows how strong you could be. If you take it and.." Before they could explain more, Jane gasped out loud. "!" And nearly fell over. "Whoa!" Rivet caught her. "I do not think she is reacting to it well." Catherine quickly put the card away. "No.. its not that." The pain decreased, she could talk again. It was something else. My heart.. something attacked it. Something is wrong.." Just then a loud crash was heard upstairs. "What was that?" They rushed upstairs and were shocked at what they found. "No.."

..

"Leave her alone.." Jackson grunted, still clutching his own chest. "But she is the very incarnate of your darkness. Lord Seneska ordered us to remove every last shadow." Fimbulvin had won, yet Doe was not disappearing. "If I can not erase her, you will" But that soon changed. "Jack!" Cable yelled when he saw his legs turning to fog. "I can not let.. her be erased. She is still young..and she is.. more than just a shadow. More.." The pain increased yet he continued to speak. "If you resist, your Ba will be dispersed.. unable to become perfect. You deny it even now?" Even the priest was shocked. "It will mean the very death you fight for. Even if you defeat Seneska, you will not be able to return to your world!" Everyone gasped. "Jack, don't do it!" Christine cried. Nobody wanted to see him go like this. "Guys. It will be alright. I know it will be. I.." He clenched his teeth. "Grgh. I will.. not be far away. And I know you can do this." He looked at Fraser. "Cable. My friend... you did so much for me. I thank you" He smiled weakly. "Jack. Why.." He wanted to stop this, but it was not up to him anymore. "Because..I would do anything.. to keep the people I know alive." He gave him a thumbs up, before his finger and the rest of him vanished. "Jaaaccckkkk!"

And up stairs, where once lay Jackson Doe, was not just dust. No silver statue, no golden light. His soul was lost to the afterlife..

(To be Continued in New Testament 110: Frozen Tears)

**Cards used by Priest Fimbulvin  
**Blizzed - Defender of the Ice Barrier  
Warlock of the Ice Barrier  
Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier  
Geomancer of the Ice Barrier  
Gungnir - Dragon of the Ice Barrier  
General Gantala of the Ice Barrier  
Samurai of the Ice Barrier  
Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier  
Trishula - Dragon of the Ice Barrier

-  
Water Hazard  
Magic Triangle of the Ice Barier

**New Cards used by Jackson Doe  
**_Hellbiker - Symbol of the Hanged Man  
_

Polymerization  
_Id/Ego Separation_


	110. Frozen Tears

**New Testament 110: Frozen Tears**

"Where did he go?" Madlyn was the only one not left stunned and speechless by Jacksons 'death'. "That is.. a good question." And apparently even the priest had not foreseen this. "You do not know?" Christine cried out. "How can you not?" He had done this, yet he was just as clueless? "He rejected perfection, he refused to let his other self be erased. Now his soul can never join the perfect new world." If he sounded saddened, it was only for that reason. "You.. you will not blame him for this." Cable clenched his fist. "This would not have happened if not for you and your new lord!" He cursed loudly. "The choice was his own. I do not understand why he of all would deny the perfection he once touched. But there is no longer any point in asking." The priest and his threeheaded ice dragon looked over the remaining duelists. "The next one can attack me now." From the looks on their faces, he could expect just about anyone to jump in. "Then I will do it." Cable stepped unto the icy platform, activating his dueldisk immediately. "I will be your second.."

Cable's LP: 8000 Priest Fimbulvins LP: 7000

"Natural reaction.. The friend will avenge his fallen friend." Fimbulvin ended his turn. "It is not just for his sake. But you can no longer say that all of our fates will improve when the gate of Alkahest is opened." Cable drew six cards. His field had nothing however, Jackson could not leave him any cards to use. "I summon Protoss Hero Tassadar(1900/1550). Who is also a High Templar while on the field. Which allows me to fuse it with the High Templar in my hand!" He played the spell Polymerization to combine the Hero and Templar. "Protoss Archon." The two formed an avatar of pure energy and rage(3500/2200). "I declare the water-type! So Archon gains 300 attackpoints whenever it attacks a monster of that attribute." And his opponent only had monsters of that element. "It attacks and destroys Trishula!" The Ice Barrier Dragon was blown to diamond dust by the fusions (3800/2000) psionic blasts. "Already you have hurt me more than your friend. It is fitting to face a spirit that embodies rage. Even if it is a manmade spirit."

Priest Fimbulvins LP: 5700

_Protoss Hero-Tassadar, 4/1900/1550 Light/Beastwarrior  
__When this monster is face-up on your side of the field, this monster's name is also considered as 'Protoss High Templar'_

_Protoss Archon, 8/3500/2000 Light/Beastwarrior/Fusion  
__Protoss High Templar + Protoss High Templar  
__When this monster is succesfully fusion summoned, choose one attribute.  
As long as this card is face-up, when this monster attacks a monster of the selected attribute, increase this monster's attack points by 300._

"I shall not touch..that emotion." He activated the spell card Salvage, adding two water-type monsters with low attack to his hand. "Cryomancer and Geomancer.. I call out the first." And because he still had his continuous spell; Water Hazard, he could special summon the Cryomancer(1300/0) to the field in defense mode. "Is he going to synchro summon again?" He could still normal summon. "And.. Dewdark." But instead he summoned a second tuner, a dagger wielding thief(1200/800). "This ice shadow can bypass other monsters, when it stands besides another Ice Barrier." Dewdark merged with the ice floor, slithering through it as if he were made of water. "Direct attack?" It resurfaced behind Cable, slashing his back with his knives. "Gah!" Then the shadow returned to Fimbulvins side of the field. "The Cryomancer also has a unique power. No monsters of the fourth or higher level may attack as long as she is alive." The aqua spirit erected a wall of ice around the Archon. "Tsk. He set himself up a nice combo there." William grunted.

Cable's LP: 6800

"You want to push my anger aside.. I thank you for that." Cable did not say that because he appreciated it, as it was still a painful gesture. "Tribute summon!" But now he had a tribute for his level 5 Protoss Unit. "The Reaver!" A caterpillar-like tank(2500/0) crawled unto the field, somehow not cracking the ice despite its apparent weight. "This machine can not strike. But it can spawn drones." A smaller scarab-token(0/0) came from the Reaver. "Then I can sacrifice such a token, to destroy a face-up card on the field!" The highly explosive Scarab scuttled over to the other side of the field. "And I choose the tuner that blocks my attacks!" It exploded, creating an electric wave that fried the Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier. "I end my turn. A turn in which you forced me to let go of my anger.. for now." He could not do damage like this.

_Protoss Reaver. 5/2500/0 Light/Machine  
__This monster cannot attack. Each turn you can special summon one 'Scarab token' (1/0/0 Light/Machine) on your side of the field in defense mode.  
__If you control this card, you can activate the following effects by tributing a certain number of Scarab-tokens.  
__1: Destroy one face-up card on the field.  
__2: Remove one card on the field from play._

"I see. But even so, your new machine is a bigger threat." He had nothing in his hand that could kill it. "Strategist of the Ice Barrier." And old water mage(1600/1600) teleported unto the field. "By discarding an Ice Barrier spirit, he shall add a new card to my hand." Fimbulvin threw the Geomancer away and drew again. The others noticed how much draw power his deck had. "Not what I wanted." But he did not get a helpful card, instead his extra deck would have to be used. "Allow me to show the third of the three Ice Barrier Dragons. Synchro summon.." The level 2 Dewdark and level 4 Strategist formed a level 6 dragon of ice(2300/1400). "Brionac. His ability costs cards in my hand as well.." He discarded the last Ojama card in his hand, Ojama Green. "For every discard, one shall return to his master!" A wave of snow pushed the Reaver into Cable's hand. "What?" He was wide open, the snow hit him too. "Those dragons are all so powerful." Elias thought this priest had the strongest Synchros so far. "That is how he wins so quickly."

Cable's LP: 4500

"Grr. That.." Cable drew another card. "Will be the last time you hit me. That is a promise." He activated a spell; Mind Merging. "I fuse two monsters in my deck! Dark Templar and Dark Templar!" He fusion summoned the counterpart to the Archon, the Dark Archon(2300/3000). "Another rage incarnate?" Mind merged monsters could not attack in their first turn, but they could use their effects. "I discard one card from my hand to take control of yours!" Protoss Reaver was sent to the grave. "Control?" And Brionac flew over to his masters enemy. "Yes. How do you like it, this helplessness?" He also normal summoned the Protoss Hero Fenix(1950/1000). "How do you like it, knowing what Jackson must have felt like..in his final few minutes!" Brionac and Fenix could attack, and they did. "Hggghk." Snow and energy blades struck down the Priest, severely reducing his lifeforce. "But I think, because of your new Lord, you can't begin to understand our feelings. I set a trap and end my turn" Dark Archon was sent back to the extra deck.

Priest Fimbulvins LP: 1450

_Mind Merging, Normal Spell  
__Send from your deck fusion-material monsters to special summon one 'Protoss' fusion monster from your fusion deck. This is considered a fusion summon.  
__The monster summoned through this card's effect cannot attack and is returned to the extra deck during your next endphase._

_Protoss Hero-Fenix, 4/1950/1000 Light/Beastwarrior+  
__When this monster is face-up on your side of the field, this monster's name is also considered as "Protoss Dragoon"._

"Nonsense. Our Lord sees all with her eye, she knows all." At the same time Brionac returned to his field. "I may not be able to save Jackson, but I can save you. Water Hazard special summons a new monster!" Another tidal wave swept up a transport lizard(500/200) "Caravan of the Ice Barrier. By allowing two ice Barriers passage back into the deck, both players will draw once." General Gantala and Sacred Spirit were chosen, and the two added a card to their hand. ".." And at least Fimbulvin received it. "Magic Triangle!" He revealed three Ice Barriers in his hand. "Oh no!" The process repeated again, he special summoned an ice Barrier monster from his hand, and destroyed a card on the other field. "Fenix.." His last monster was destroyed. "General Grunard." And another ice general(2800/1000) took his place "Furthermore I shall sacrifice the Caravan. And sacrifice summon the Royal Knight!" He called out a knight in ice armor(2000/2000). "The Royal Knight creates a coffin of ice on your side." A frozen casket (1000/0) was given to Cable. But it was in attack mode. "Finally, Grunard allows me to normal summon one more Ice Barrier. I choose the Shock Troops." His fourth ally was another spellcaster(1500/800) "If these attack you, you shall die."

"I wont let it come to that!" Cable flipped his trap. "Hallucination! I special summon four Hallucination tokens to my side of the field!" Four holographic protoss(0/0) were made. "You will not kill me like that! Fimulvin!" He smirked. "You are right, Cable Fraser, I can not understand you." The priest shrugged and attacked anyway, Brionac and the others destroyed all four tokens. However they left the Ice Coffin alone. That was a for a reason. "The fight ends, now I sacrifice the Shock Trooper to destroy a water-monster on the field." The spellcaster used his own life to cast a destructive spell at the coffin. "Huh, did he go through all that trouble just for that?" Nero wondered what the point was. Until he saw what other effect the Shocktroops had. "When it destroys such a monster, an Ice Barrier card is added to my hand." He took a level 3 tuner from his deck. "I end my turn." Fraser managed to live through that round, but he was outnumbered now. "It is a good thing. That your Caravan gave me the card I need to uphold my promise to you."

"I activate Templar Archive. It revives the last Protoss that was sent to the cemetery." Fenix the zealot(1950/1000) regained life. "I then tribute him to summon an Protoss Arbiter!" He called out the mighty warship(0/2500) of the Protoss. "It targets one element, and seals its attacks.. or banishes them for an entire turn." But he did not want to chance another Triangle formation and Brionac combo. "Removal!" The Arbiter removed the dragon, the general and the knight from play, sending them to another dimension until his next standby phase. "Hmm." But Fimbulvin was not frightened by this, as Cable's machine had no way of harming him. It was switched to defense mode by its own effect and had no attackpoints. "I then equip the Arbiter with Argus Jewel, to protect him from card effects!" The Warship shielded itself (0/2100).

_Templar Archive, Normal Spell  
__Special summon the last 'Protoss' monster you controlled that was destroyed and sent to the graveyard._

_Argus Jewel, Equip Spell.  
__This card can only be equipped to a Protoss monster. A monster equipped with this card loses 400 defense points and can not be targeted by your opponents card effects._

"The anger you have.. I see now that you only intend to give it to my Lord. But you must realize, I will never let you reach her as long as I exist." He drew another card. "Anger is just a remnant, Cable. You will no longer have any need for it, once the gate is opened." He reactivated Water Hazard, summoning a ice-covered fox(200/1600). "Level 3 tuner, Defender of the Ice Barrier is special summoned. Next is the Blizzard Warrior." The ice swordsman was also of the third level(1400/400). "Your jewel protects that monster from abilities, but not from raw force." He performed another synchro summon. "Level six Tigerking of the Ice Barrier; Dewloren." An armored tiger(2000/1400) jumped unto the ice, roaring at the Arbiter. "By returning cards on the field back to my hand, this card will gain 500 attackpoints." He sent Water Hazard back to his hand, and the Tigerking(2500/1400) was now strong enough to break through the warship. "And when I end my turn, all other Ice Barriers will return to me." So he did, and Brionac and company were back.

"Tsk." Cable was really out of options now, only one card in his deck could save him. "You expect me, to think there is a perfect world.. while Jackson is not in it?" He did not draw it yet. "How can you say things like that, how can it be perfect if souls are missing!" Fimbulvin did not have an answer to that it seemed, as he just looked away. "You can not tell me, can you? You can only say that it will go away.. my worries about him. But I.. I will not live in a place where friendship has no meaning!" His last card was taken from his dueldisk. It was now or never. "...I.." He took a single glance at it. "I will..not lose to you!" And it was summoned, his third and final Dark Templar(1900/1400). "One element will be destroyed when this Protoss is summoned." The answer was simple. "Water." The Templar sent out a psionic wave that melted all Ice Barrier monsters at the same time. "Oh!" Unfortunately he could not attack during the turn he summoned this card. But he had wiped out his enemy's overwhelming army with one move. His turn was over. "Your cards.. do well against elemental decks." Fimbulvin had lost his water arsenal twice in a row. "I..I did not foresee this." He drew another card, but it was a spell he could not even use. "What?"

He even ended his turn without doing anything. "It ends just like that?" Madlyn did not find that nearly satisfying enough. "...draw." Fraser did not need to look at what he received, one more attack would end the game. "Before I finish you. I have to ask." He already was in the battle phase. "Do you.. still feel?" Fimbulvin blinked. "The priests up until now do not seem like the humans back on earth. Even if you say you want to be perfect, you appear to be at the same stage as us.." Especially Mulcifer had seemed more 'flawed' as they would call it. "You are right in that regard. Because.. Seneska can not make us perfect, until we too are defeaten..by you." The others gasped. "What? You mean you have shadows too?" Christine did not think they could have an inner darkness. "Is is true." Fimbulvin grabbed his Scales. "Our inner darkness is this. And we can not lose our tie to it, until we lose. So.. take me down, Fraser, or do not. Either way it pleases our Lord." He smiled. "..I pity you.. High Templar attacks!" The Protoss made the killing blow.

Fimbulvins LP: 0

"Thank you." The priest closed his eyes, and he became even paler than he already was. He dissolved into water, splashing down into the already melting seas. "This..this should not be happening." Cable clenched his fist and pounded the ice. "This will not bring Jack back at all!" He yelled. "Cable..." His friends did not know what to say either. They could not believe he was not going to come back. "First Cleo..now.." William nearly choked up, but shook his head. "We can not spare the time to regret what happened. As much as I hate to say this, we have to move on." Already the freezing landscape started to thaw, letting more fog enter the realm. "I know. I..know." Fraser got up. "I just wish this was getting easier.." Instead it was more painful with every loss. "Let's go. We have to see which Item is reacting now." But before they could act on that idea, the entire are started to rumble. "Now what is going on?" It in fact was trembling so strongly, that they did not think it was just the next priest showing up. "This power.. why does it feel so..!"

The same overbearing aura reached all the way to Lady Seneska. **"Ho?" **Her palace started to quake as well, a powerful force headed straight for it. _**"This is an unnatural consequence.. Who could have followed the children here?" **_She closed one eye and focused only with her golden object. _**"What I sense is.. anger.. and an energy long forgotten. A shadow everyone overlooked." **_It made such an impression she could literally taste it, visualize the unholyness that pierced through the afterworld like a sonic missile. _**"Ah. I remember speaking to her. But how she came in contact with that magic, is a bit of a mystery."**_She stepped outside to a balcony and looked at the shining sun in the dark sky. **"And the priests can not stop her. I must ask you to take care of this problem.. God of the sun." **The fiery phoenix flew out of the solar sphere almost immediately. **"Take care of dear Jane Doe, and the darkness of Orichalcos." **The bird turned around and blasted off into the night. **"Jane Doe..child of Ger, fare thee well" **

(To be Continued in New Testament 111: Drown in my Inferno)

**New Cards used by Priest Fimbulvin  
**Dewdark of the Ice Barrier  
Strategist of the Ice Barrier  
Brionac - Dragon of the Ice Barrier  
Caravan of the Ice Barrier  
General Grunard of the Ice Barrier  
Royal Knight of the Ice Barrier  
Shock Troops of the Ice Barrier  
Defender of the Ice Barrier  
Dewloren - Tiger of the Ice Barrier

-  
Salvage

**New Cards used by Cable Fraser  
**_Protoss Hero Tassadar  
__Protoss Archon  
__Protoss Reaver  
__Protoss Hero Fenix_

_-  
Mind Merging  
__Argus Jewel  
__Templar Archive_


	111. Drown in My Inferno

**New Testament 111: Drown in my Inferno**

"I do not get what happened here. But then.. we never planned this far ahead." Catherine and Rivet stared at the pile of dust that was once Jacksons body. "Does this mean we wont be able to make use of his link to.." But while they talked, Jane had been left speechless. "Jane?" Until she suddenly snapped and took the suitcase from them. "Wait! We need to.." She took out the card and the Orichalcos crystal. "No more waiting." And when she did, a strange reaction took place. A green circle of light appeared beneath her. "..prepare for.." Catherine and Rivet had intended for her to use it once she found a way to Jackson, they did not plan to let her use it here. "No. We are.. ready." A heartbeat later, and her body dropped to the floor. But a shadow with her shape and voice remained. "We?" Rivet looked down and saw the body of Jane. "Wait.. isn' that.." Something was off about it. "What we need.. is you." The light increased in intensity. "Wait, what?" And the three were enveloped by the unholy energy of the Orichalcos.

The next minute, their bodies dropped to the floor as well. Their souls absorbed. "More power..we need more!" And the shadow phased through the roof, flying into the golden sky. "There!" It flew faster than any plane could ever have gone, an entity not bound by gravity or inertia. It reached the light above Egypt. "All that Orichalcos." She had found the satellite, the last machine of Tum'aga empire and holder of the remaining Orichalcos. In an instant it drove through the satellite, causing it to disappear in a display of green and pale explosions. She emerged from the smoke, surrounded by crystals and brimming pale energy. "Good.." Then 'it' went beyond the physical plane. The shadow moved through the gold frontier and plunged into the starry void above. There in the distance was the very sun that Seneska had hidden from the world. But it was not acting like the normal solar body, and this did not look like the space above the clouds. The planets were gone, the stars were all red, and the flames of the sun were tainted with the color of blood.

"You!" A solar flare shot out towards the shadow, taking the shape of a fiery bird. "Stop right there!" It ordered, the voice echoing out across the infinite darkness. "Seneska.." The shadow Jane merely replied. "You will not see her. You will have to face the same challenges that all other unbelievers do." The bird extended its flames, great wings of fire surrounded the shadow and her crystals. "No. No games.." However she sent out a black beam from her left hand which pierced right through the phoenix's flames. "!" It burned out instantly, leaving only black embers. "I see. You are not here by a normal 'death'." He noticed the green gemstones surrounding her. "This is why she sent me to deal with you.. You are the last remnant of the dark gods. All others have been absorbed by the Alkahest gate. But you.." For a second a spectre-like image of a large snake appeared to stand behind her. "You are the child of Ger. And that evil can not be erased, no matter how human much the heart and soul of your other self influenced you.."

The bird shrieked and its flames shot out everywhere. "But you..face a god of light!" His true form was revealed as the fire left its body, golden mechanical feathers and a strong armor were hidden underneath. "You face the god that vanquishes the shadows, you face Ra!" Before her stood the sungod, the Winged Dragon of Ra. "You choose to stand against me, with just a shred of your former self? Or are you blinded by the emotions of a human, child of Ger?" The entire universe seemed to shake by the very presence of this magnificent divine spirit, yet Jane remained unphased. "I must.. destroy her." She/it spoke. "Then you leave me no choice. I shall exterminate the last remnant of Orichalcos here and now." His aura flared up. "I do not.. fear you!" She dove straight into the flames, with all the evil energy of the snake god behind her.

...

"It's getting warmer. We must be getting near.." The remaining six duelists walked across the melting ice, the water was oddly shallow. "And harder to see.." The fog was all over the place. "Is any Item reacting yet? It can only be the Ring and Rod now." The Eye and Puzzle did not belong to people they expected to see right away. "Nothing yet." Nero held both items, though he technically only owned the Ring. "I wish we knew what was going on in the other world." Twice they had felt something ominous. Something that even the Puzzle responded too. "I felt a power like that before, but it feels like it was outside our reach." Christine shuddered, though she did not know why. "What you sensed was a different kind of intruder." Someone gave his input to the conversation. "What the.." But it was not one of their group, a seventh person stood in the mist. "A priest?" This caught them by surprise, because their Millennium Items did not respond. "You are confused." He revealed himself. "Could that be because I, Ankhaten, control the Rod?"

"An..khaten?" This was not just another obstacle, they knew this man. "You are with Seneska too now?" They met him in the world of memories. "You speak to me as if you know me." He scoffed at them. "But we met you, half of us did at least." Cable, Madlyn and Elias had never seen him before. "You were one of the few that survived the attack from Atlantis, the attack that killed the parents of Seneska and Raness." William did not understand why he did not recognize him. "I have no such recollection. I am merely here to do what the others were too weak to do...stop you." His dueldisk was already attached, and made of gold. "I get it.." Nero placed his items down. "The rod did not respond because it already belongs to Seneska, she was the one that defeated Glyph. And you do not remember us, because the 'Ankhaten' we met was just a memory of Raness himself." The only one real in the world of memories was the Pharaoh himself. "Guys. I will duel him. I have stood one the sidelines for far too long." He activated his own disk. "Okay..Nero.."

Nero's LP: 8000 Ankhatens LP: 8000

"Too slow.." The priest had already drawn his hand by the time Nero inserted his deck. "I shall begin. Swords of Revealing Light!" His first move was already a painful one, energy swords rained down on the field. "Blast it." Now he could not attack him for three turns. "And my first monster shall be the Mist Vally Thunder Bird." A bird with lightning bolts on its green feathers(1100/700) circled above the field. "My first curse will be this." He placed a card down and ended his turn. "Then I shall set a curse of my own." He placed a trap card as well. "And I set a monster card." The monster was his Elemental Hero Woodsman, an earth-type. _"Mist Valley is his motif, a wind-elemental. That means he has to be strong against earth." _Someone like him with multiple elements under his command could do well against a priest's elemental resistances.

"Is that all? You seem incapable of shattering a simple spell." Ankhaten drew again. "I shall test your defenses. By returning a Mist Valley creature to my hand, the Mist Condor can be special summoned." Thunderbird exchanged places with a level 4 blue condor(1400/400). "But when Thunderbird returns to my hand, it is immediately sent back to the field." The bird came back. "Then I activate Swallow's Nest; tributing the Condor to call out a bird of the same level. Mist Valley Falcon!" The condor flew into the air above, and a winged swordsman(2000/1200) landed on the ground. "Next I normal summon the Mist Valley Shaman." The female witchdoctor(1200/1200) was a level 3 tuner. They knew what was coming next. "Synchro summon.." She and the condor were tuned together, a muscular winged warrior(2600/2400) was their combined form. "Level 7 Mist Valley spirit: Thunder Lord." It called up a fierce storm. "The swords!" And the sword of light disappeared, somehow empowering the Synchro(3100/2400). "Thunder Lord can strengthen itself by returning 1 card I control to my hand." He reactivated the swords immediately. "What? But that means they will never go away!" The two turn wait was again a three turn wait. "Yes."

Then the Thunder monster summoned a lightning bolt that incinerated the forest hero(1000/2000). "Neo Signal!" Luckily Nero had a trap he could use. "I can special summon a Neo-Spacian; the Glow Moss(300/100)!" Ankhaten looked at the creature. "Weak.." The Thunderbird attacked as well. "His effect activates!" But a card came from the priests deck, a monster. "When you attack it, you draw! And when you draw a monster, the battle phase ends." The bird could not get near the alien plant. "Hmph. End turn." He had saved his monster, and now he had a way of dealing with the swords. "Spell card: Fake Hero, I special summon Elemental Hero Neos from my hand." The outerspace hero(2500/2000) joined his Neo-spacian friend. "Contact fusion!" It and the moss fused into E-hero Glow Neos(2500/2000). "I can destroy one card on the field!" The hero released a dazzling flash that broke all light swords. "And when it destroys a spell, it can strike directly!" Next Ankhaten was bombarded with light rays. "Gggh." However because Contact fused monsters returned to the extra deck during the endphase, he had to unfuse it afterwards. "Spell card: Contact Out!" Glow Neos split back into Neos and Glow Moss, both in defense mode.

Priest Ankhatens LP: 5500

During all this, Thunder Lord(3600/2400) made itself even stronger by sending Thunderbird back. Its effect worked even during Nero's turns. "You planned this all along.." He actually smiled. "I admit, you handle yourself well." Nero did not share his expression. "I set a trap card, it is your turn." He was instead worried. Despite the hit, Ankhaten still had him outnumbered. "Now I have to use this: Relieve Monster." He flipped his trap card. "Thunderbird returns to my hand, and another monster appears." From his hand came a wind fairy boy(1500/1600). "The Whirlwind Prodigy! It counts for two sacrifices when a wind-monster is summoned!" Cable did design that card. "Thunderbird of course returns." Even when sent back by a trap, the green bird would not stay gone. "Now a normal summon." The Prodigy was tributed for a highlevel adult version of the Thunder winged beast, the Apex Avian(2700/2000). "With this I have sealed your abilities, Nero." It towered over the two players, expanding its wings across the misty fields. "Sealed?"

"How is that possible?" Ankhaten smirked as he started his battle phase. "You will see, right now." Thunderlord(4100/2400) empowered itself again with the hand/field bouncing Thunderbird, and everyone charged. "Trap card: Widespread Ruin!" Nero tried to blow up the Synchro that threatened Neos. "It's no use! By returning one card on the field to my hand, Apex Avian can negate an effect!" Nero gasped. "But.." His trap shattered, as the Avian sent back Thunderbird. "...that one.." It flew out of Ankhatens hand in the very same breath. Neos was mercilessly crushed by the thunder titan. "..can always be used that way!" Indeed, for when Glow Moss was attacked by the Thunderbird, it was destroyed when its effect was negated the same way. "Damn it." That left him wide open for a direct attack from the one that negated all his effects and the one that was used to negate said effects. "You hit hard. I hit harder. And now, only raw power can save you." If he could not kill Thunderbird, he would never win the duel. "My... turn."

Nero's LP: 2600

_"I can not lose already.. damn it.. damn it!" _He drew his card and flinched. "Tsk. I did not expect to be needing this. But you left me no choice." He summoned Elemental Hero Ice Edge(800/900). "Activate the spell, Super Polymerization!" He discarded a card from his hand. "That spell?" To start a magic fusion the others had not seem him use since he was possessed by Jacob. "I fuse a monster on my field, with one on yours!" Apex Avian tried to stop it, but Super Polymerization was a spell that could not be negated. "By fusing an Elemental Hero and a Wind-monster, Great Tornado will be called upon!" The caped wind warrior was fused from Apex Avian and Ice Edge. "Now you can not negate anything! Like Great Tornado's powers!" A fierce tornado was summoned to counter that of the Thunder Lord. His(2550/2400) and the birds(550/700) attackpoints were halved by it."Be gone!" The whirlwind sucked up the synchro, blasting it into the sky. "Ankhaten or not. I have had enough of you priests!" He ended his turn.

Priest Ankhatens LP: 4750

"You circumvented the effect negator, and used it for your own creation. I see how the Millennium Ring could have ended up in your hands." Ankhaten said, no longer with a tone of arrogance. "But, no creation lives forever. Your power is not.." He suddenly sacrificed the Thunderbird. "...protected well enough. Tribute summon, Raiza the Storm Monarch." An emperor in green armor(2400/1000) hit the field through a tribute. "Oh no!" Everyone feared the Monarch series, because of their devastating tribute-summon effects. "Raiza returns a monster to a players hand!" The Monarch formed his own tempest, which overpowered the Great tornado and pushed him all the way into the extra deck. "No!" And Nero immediately paid for his defenselessness, as he was hit directly. He was knocked down by the winds "You dueled well, but you will soon be joining all the others." His life had been cut to near zero. "I am not beaten yet, blast it." He struggled to get up, despite the pressure on him. "No you are not. But you are no longer a threat to us."

Nero's LP: 200

(To be Continued in New Testament 112: Memories from Mist)

**Cards used by Priest Ankhaten  
**Mist Valley Thunderbird  
Mist Condor  
Mist Valley Falcon  
Mist Valley Shaman  
Mist Valley Thunder Lord  
Whirlwind Prodigy  
Mist Valley Apex Avian  
Raiza, the Storm Monarch

-  
Swords of Revealing Light  
Swallow's Nest

-  
Relieve Monster


	112. Memories from Mist

**New Testament 112: Memories from Mist**

Nero's LP: 200 Priest Ankhatens LP: 4750

"No cards in my hand, barely any life left, facing a stronger monster. You might be right in saying that I can no longer help in the duels against you. But.." Nero drew a card. "If I give up now, I will never be able to face the past or the future. We can only move forward, I shall do whatever it takes to win!" His deck had given him just what he needed. "When my hand consists of only this monster, I can special summon him: E-Hero Bubbleman." The bubble hero(800/1200) arrived. "And when the field is empty, his summon allows me to draw two more cards!" He did so, a monster and a trap were given to him. "I set both of these facedown!" He was forced to defend but that was a better option than to give the priest openings to exploit. "You have made your choice then. But then this is how the Lord designed it. I can not allow the Ring-wielder to wander around." Ankhaten drew again, gaining a spell. "And I will not let you hide either, not under the light of the sun! Magic: Book of Taiyou!" He activated the spell card that flipped a set monster face-up.

"Argh.." His face-down monster was revealed, the E-Hero of the Ocean(1500/1200). "Interesting. Another water-attribute." Ankhaten took one more card from his hand. "I had planned to use this spirit against someone whose elements were more restricted. But I shall not allow this opportunity to pass me by. I special summon Alector." A red-winged warrior(2400/2000) in sharp silver armor descended to the field. "The Sovereign of Birds can be called when my enemy controls two monsters of the same attribute." Bubbleman and Ocean were both heroes of water. "Tsk. I will not lose this turn!" Nero did not want to keep up the suspense, so he flipped his trap. "Elemental Recharge! My lifepoints are restored, a thousand for each Elemental!" He gained 2000 LP. "Now he will live through the attack!" Neither Alector or Raiza the Storm Monarch(2400/1000) could do enough damage to drain Nero's points away. "You continue to run, Nero." Nevertheless Ocean and Bubbleman were killed by wind blasts. "Where are you running to? I wonder.."

Nero's LP: 1300

"I am not running! I am trying to reach Seneska!" He drew another card and cringed. "Your deck tells you what you really think, Nero. Did you just draw a card that allows you to beat me, or a card that allows you to defend again?" The duelist had been given a defensive trap. "I do not believe you! This is just bad luck!" He placed the trap facedown and ended his turn. He could do nothing more. "You no longer play a mere game. This is a fight for your lifeforce, and your friends survival. The truth is, you are worried that you will not be able to win!" He activated the spell card Premature Burial, paying 800 of his own lifepoints to revive the Mist Falcon(2000/1200). "Your lowered Ba has deluded your senses, you are no longer worthy of fighting me!" The three birds flew through the fog, towards their prey. "Nero!" Even one direct attack would finish him.

Priest Ankhatens LP: 3950

"Ggh. That does not mean I want to be defeated!" He activated the trap, Reinforce Truth, to special summon a level 2 warrior from his deck. "One is not enough!" And he chose the Hero Kid(300/600). "When one Hero Kid is special summoned, two more can follow!" Three heroic children(300/600) appeared, all three of them taking the blows intended for their master. "What you want and what you feel are not the same." Strangely Premature Burial was sent back to his hand. "Mist Valley Falcon can only attack by returning a card to my hand." And the burial spell would not kill its host, if it was not sent to the grave itself. "Your turn then. Show me if you can still see yourself winning." Nero quickly drew another card. "I will!" He activated Fifth Hope. "Since I control no monsters, spells or traps, in my hand or on my field, I can draw thrice!" Three more cards were added to his hand. Though the first two already did not look very helpful. _"Come on. I can do this, I can beat him. I can.."_ He closed his eyes and took out the third one. The others held their breath.

".." He took one glance. "Heh." And with a smile he played it. "Spell card: Miracle Fusion! I fuse a grave-bound Elemental Hero with a Light-monster!" Elemental Hero Bubbleman and Elemental Hero Neos (a light monster) were combined. "Elemental Hero The Shining!" The result was a white-armored warrior(2600/2100). "This monster gains 300 attackpoints for each Hero that is removed from play!" Two needled of the golden symbol on its back started to glow (Shining: 3200/2100). "Destroy Alector!" Nero was no fool, he knew that the Bird Sovereign also had the power to negate effects, so he had to get rid of it quickly. "And now at least you strike." Ankhaten smirked. "If what you say is true, then it can also work the other way. If I believe I can win.. I will win!" He placed two cards face-down. "I end my turn." He said with confidence.

Priest Ankhatens LP: 3150

"It does work like that. However.." The priest reactivated Premature Burial. "My faith in the Lord is greater than your faith in yourself." This time he revived the ever-annoying Thunderbird(1100/700). "Mist Valley Windmaster." And then a blue peacock(400/800) flew down to the field. "That is a tuner!" It looked like he would Synchro summon again, however as it was a level 2 bird, it was not the right number for another Thunder Lord. "Mist Falcon, Mist Master, Mist ThunderBird. I combine you.." The level 3 unburied bird and level 4 Falcon joined into the energy circles of the tuned Wind Master, becoming one new monster. "The hell is that!" It was not a winged beast anymore, but a large fog-spewing caterpillar(2500/1500). "Level 9 Synchro monster: Mist Wurm. When summoned, three cards on the field will be returned to their owners hand." He pointed at Nero's field, specifically The Shining and the two hidden traps or spells. "The ones I choose, are all you have left!" The Wurm spewed out poisonous smoke, which enveloped the entire valley.

Priest Ankhatens LP: 2350

"I will not lave anything up to chance.." Ankhaten expected to see an empty field for him to attack. "What?" Instead there were two monsters in the smoke; Elemental Hero Neos(2500/2000) and Elemental Hero Bubbleman(800/1200). "The fusion materials?" One of the face-down cards must have been a defusing spell. However those two were supposed to be removed from play. "The two cards I set were quickplay spells: Defusion and.. Burial from Another Dimension." Now he understood what happened. "That magic returns three cards that were banished to another dimension. That is how the Miracle fused monsters came back to the grave." Now Nero had two monsters to defend himself. One was even strong enough to take Mist Wurm down with it. "At least you are not running anymore!" He attacked anyway, the poisonous insect crashed into Neos, who punched through the creature's body before he died. "Feh.." Raiza meanwhile cut down Bubbleman a second time. "We are back where we started. Aren't we?" He ended his turn. "Not precisely. I have gotten back some lifeforce, while you lost some. Now I feel like I can defeat you, Ankhaten." He drew a card. And as if fueled by his new beliefs, the card was a lifesaver. "Miracle Contact!"

"The contact-version of Miracle Fusion?" It was a coveted card for any Neos-duelist, Cable had not expected Nero to have such a rare spell. "I contact fuse the monsters in my graveyard: E-Hero Neos, Glow Moss and Dark Panther." The latter had been discarded earlier through Super Polymerization. "I fuse black and white into chaos: E-Hero Chaos Neos!" From his extra deck came the demon-winged dark warrior(3000/2500). "I can toss a coin three times. If I get heads thrice, you lose all your monsters." However if he rolled heads only once, it would be very bad for him. "Why did you choose that one, why not Glow Neos who has a certain chance of destroying my monster?" Ankhaten was not sure why he took the risk. "I can ask you a similar question!" He yelled back and tossed the coin. "One!" The first landed on heads. "Two!" the second as well. "What do you mean?" Ankhaten asked before he tossed the third. "If you had used Premature Burial to revive Thunder Lord, he could have sent the spell back to your hand to empower himself. That way you would have had three monsters on the field last turn. I would not have won.." In that case a third could attack him directly. But he wondered why Ankhaten did not take that route. "Three!" And the final one..

"Heads!"

It was a miracle alright. "This is it: Aura Dark Spiral!" The Chaos hero unleashed a black wave of energy that broke down Raiza, and hit Ankhaten directly at the same time. "Gah.." His lifepoints had been reduced to zero. "Well done.. Nero. You came back from near defeat. You truly are the priest of Raness." Like the previous priests his body started to fade away, melting into the waters below him. "You are right as well. I should have done that. I did not think that way because.. I wanted to preserve my lifeforce." The Premature Burial card would have cost him another 800 LP. "You thought about the duels after me.. you hoped Mist Wurm alone was enough for me.." Ankhaten nodded. "In the end my loyalty to the Lord drove me to this. But now.. my inner darkness has been conquered." The Millennium Rod in his hand shattered like glass. "The remnant is with you, the ownership is with her. I will pray for you... Because the final priest has always been the strongest of us all." And that was the end of Ankhaten, sunk into the murky waters.

Ankhatens LP: 0

"Well.. we managed to do that one without losing anyone." William sighed in relief. "But I am as good as useless now." Nero still had but 1300 lifepoints left. "Maybe there is a way we can share our lifeforce?" Christine and the others still had a reasonable amount. "Maybe. But I would not want you to make such a sacrifice. We will see what happens when we find our next.. enemy." He then noticed the fog started to lift. "Trees?" They could see their surrounding environment clearer now. Gone was the mountain in the distance, or the ice and water. Only a forest remained, a warm jungle. "And there is the sun again." Finally they could lay their eyes on the shining sphere in the skies. "The final priest. Is in there." Nero took the Millennium Ring, whose needles were all pointing in the direction of the rainforest. "The final element is nature then? That sounds interesting.." Madlyn felt this was her chance to have her duel, she was the only one with a full set of lifepoints. "And after him, there is only... him." Cable looked up the the sun again.

But he could not see what was happening up close, the veil of the twisted dimension prevented them from seeing the battle that the phoenix had waged with the dark serpent Ger. And in the end it was a battle that she could not win. "No." She burned out all the power she had gained from the Orichalcos stones, just to counter the first few attacks from the sunbird. "There was too little darkness, child of Ger. To few souls for you to use." Two sparks of energy from from her shadowy body, taking the form of Rivet and Catherine. "What? Where.." Their souls to be precise. "What is this place?" The last thing they remembered was being in the presence of Jane Doe who had activated the Seal of Orichalcos. "I told you it was a bad idea to give it to her." Catherine snapped at her companion. "We had to use what power we had, Cath! I did not expect this!" They bantered as if they did not even notice a giant bird of fire looming over them. "Hey..your face." Instead they spotted other oddities, like Rivets new appearance. "The scars are gone, but how.."

**"Beautiful is it not? Already one step closer to the final evolution."**

They both flinched. In front of them stood the enemy they had heard so much about, but never seen in person before. "My Lord. Why are you here?" The sungod gazed at her, bowing its head. **"You have done well, sungod. The souls are freed and ready to be converted." **She turned her eye back to the pair. **"In this world, the physical has no place. A scar like that... is the simplest to erase." **Her other eye shone as she read their minds. **"A scar given by an accident during a robbery in your youth I see. Well.. such a past stays with the human world. It will be forgiven once you your shadows are absorbed by the gate." **She now understood why these humans were able to resist the pull of the gate so far. They knew the name of the Pharaoh. **"All you have to do is renounce the name of my brother, and you can join the golden collective." **She extended a hand. "Damn it. What do we do now.." Rivet looked to his left, not even answering Seneska. "Hey.. you got us into this, wh.." But his jaw suddenly froze up. "wh..at.."

**"I believe gave you the wrong illusion. I was not giving you a choice, I was explaining to you what will happen." **Catherine could no longer move either, or speak. **"As humans you might have been able to resist. But as souls, your connection to your shadows is at its weakest. It is time to judge.." **Her extended hand turned from a open palm to a twisted claw. **"and forget..the sins." **The shadows cast by the flames of the sungod disconnected from the two, and flew away into the distance. **"They are for Alkahest now." **The eyes of Rivet and Catherine shifted from tensed up to relaxed. They could move again. "Thank you." Catherine smiled. "Thank you for this." They looked at each other and then lazily drifted off into the golden light below the starry void. Leaivng the black reflection of Jackson Doe alone. "What of this one, Lord? She might still have a connection to the Dark God Ger." Ra sounded like he wanted to erase her on the spot, she was too tired to say no at this point. **"Her? The soul she shadowed is gone. There only one place she still must see..."**

(To be Continued in New Testament 112: Memories from Mist)

**New Cards used by Priest Ankhaten  
**Alector, Sovereign of Birds  
Mist Valley Windmaster  
Mist Wurm

-  
Book of Taiyou  
Premature Burial

**New Cards used by Nero Jacobus  
**Hero Kid  
Elemental Hero the Shining

-  
Burial from another Dimension

-  
Elemental Recharge


	113. A Thousand Flowers

**New Testament 113: A Thousand Flowers..**

The forest was not that easy to walk through, vines, roots and thorned shrubs seemed to block the path the Millennium Ring was pointing out. They had to walk around every obstruction, losing a lot of time. "It is almost as if he does not want to face us. Whoever the next priest is." They already had a suspicion, who it could be. "If Ankhaten is one of them. All these priests must have been from Raness's generation." They did not recognize the other three however, probably because Ankhaten was the only priest they knew that had survived the Orichalcos siege. "Wait. Stay back." Nero looked up. "Sunlight is breaking through over there." That meant there was a clearing up ahead. "And the ring is pointing its needles in that direction. This has to be it." The owner of the ring had to be waiting there. "Let's proceed with caution." They carefully stepped out of the woods, stepping into a section with no trees. "There!" And there, seated on a large rock, was the final priest. Next to Ankhaten he looked to be the oldest one. "The final priest I presume?"

"Indeed. But you know me under a different name." He stepped down from his rock throne. "I knew it." Nero figured it out. "You are Zevgar." It was obvious in hindsight, he had been the spirit inside the Ring, this was his item. "Yes. I was the one to send the pharaoh a warning. But that 'me' was different from the present 'me'.." He picked up his ring. "I overheard what you said, and you are right. The sentinels are us who last owned the Millennium Items before the fall of our kingdom. With the sacrifice of Lord Raness, and nobody to succeed him, our land fell into disarray. And so.. before the new powers took over, we made sure the power of the Millennium was buried with us." Though in the end most Items had been uncovered by archaeologists anyway. "So that is why you are still a part of them. Yet now Seneska wants you to relinquish that too." Nero still could not understand how their minds dealt with this contradiction. "The items were made with the power of Alkahest, but they came at a terrible cost. A shadow that can not be erased.."

"But enough mincing about the past. The future awaits. I am the last priest, the high priest. You have vanquished four of my companions, you have list five of yours. It is up to me to take on what remains." Five challengers were left. "Your element is earth, isn't it?" William knew they had not faced that attribute yet. "Indeed. And the wind has no power here." Which did not sound too terrible, though Carter and Cable both had strong wind monsters in their deck. "I already know Nero and Elias will not face me. For various reasons." One had too little life, the other wanted to save it for when Raness finally appeared. "Then I will do it!" Madlyn declared excitedly. "No wait. We do not know what type of deck he uses. We can not attack him without a plan." Cable said. "I agree. I will duel him first." Christine had most of her lifeforce left as well, so she was the best candidate. "A test is it? Have you already resigned yourself to defeat?" He asked, but Rose shook her head. "I know how it goes. And I will not let it get me down." She reactivated her dueldisk. "Very well. I shall attempt to make this painless." He created his dueldisk from roots in the ground, placing his cards on it. "And I shall attempt to end the pain." They drew their cards, Zevgar began his turn.

Christine's LP: 6500 Zevgars LP: 8000

"Spell card, Verdant Dance." Tiny insect and plant monsters started to scuttle about the grass field. "I select these four monsters from my deck. One of which will be added to my hand, the rest shall be discarded." It appeared his deck was a combination of these creatures, the four cards were Naturia Fruitfly, Naturia Ladybug, Naturia Tulip and Dark Verger. "Then I choose Naturia Tulip." Christine picked the flower-monster which looked the most harmless. "Very well." He discarded the other cards. "I shall then normal summon Naturia Mosquito." A drill-nosed gnat(200/300) buzzed its way to the field. "That weak thing, in attack mode?" The rest could not help but suspect a trap. Yet Zevgar did not even place anything facedown. "I end my turn." He had nothing to defend his insect. "Okay... I draw." And that just made her more worried.

_Verdant Dance, Normal Spell_  
_Select 4 insect- and/or plant-type monster cards from your deck and show them to your opponent. Your opponent selects 1 card among them._  
_Add that card to your hand, and discard the remaining cards to the graveyard. During the turn this card is activates you can not special summon._

"I summon Twin Sword Marauder." She was still using Ceasars double-sworded piercer(1600/1000) apparently. "In case he tries switching it to defense somehow..." However, she soon learned what his plan was. "Cosmos Beet." Because when she normal summoned a monster, he could special summon Naturia CosmoBeet(1000/700) from his hand; a level 2 plant tuner. "Mosquito can not be attacked if other Naturia spirits are there to protect it. And if you attack a Naturia spirit, the damage will be sent back to you.. Christine Rose." The beet was also in attack mode, so the Marauder would not be able to strike twice this turn. "Tsk. I can not risk losing lifepoints now." She placed a trap card down and ended her turn. "You play conservatively. Perhaps a wise choice." Zevgar drew again "But against me, a chance not taken is more often an unforgiveable act. I set the field to this spell: Naturia Forest." Though there was no visual change, due to the already overbearing amount of trees, this field spell did not sound like good news.

"I will show you now, Christine Rose, the form my powers take in this game." He summoned a large tree covered by vine-stalks; Naturia Guardian(1600/400). "Synchro summon: Level 4 Guardian and level 2 Beet. Become one.. become.. the second of four." From the extra deck came a Chinese azure dragon with wooden scales(2500/1800). "God of the east; Naturia Balkion. It will attack your warrior." The dragon rushed forward. "Trap card: Art of the Doppelganger! My warrior will not be destroyed this turn!" Christine wanted to save the Twin Marauder. However Balkion smashed right through her trap with its tail. "What?" And then the monster died as well. "The holy dragon of the spring season can negate any trap, at the cost of two cards in my cemetery." He had removed Verdure Dance and Naturia Guardian from play, to stop the doppelgangers. "Naturia Forest's effect activates now. I add a lowlevel Naturia spirit to my hand, each time an opposing effect is negated." He added a Naturia Stinkbug to his hand. "I see.. your specialty is negation.."

Christine's LP: 5600

"This is just the beginning." Zevgar switched his Mosquito to defense mode. Not that it mattered since Rose could not attack it anyway. "If only I could draw Lily Baker. She would not be affected by effects during the turn she is summoned.." However a spell she drew was almost just as good. "I summon Amanda Cassity!" A blackhaired girl(1900/1800) appeared. "I can tribute her to special summon Amanda Baker(2200/2100) from my deck." Cassity became older and stronger. "Finally I equip her with Rainbow Veil!" A veil of seven colors surrounded the woman. "With this spell, Amanda can ignore the effects of all monsters she does battle with!" She would fight effect negation with effect negation. "It attacks the Mosquito!" Now she could attack Mosquito despite its defenses, and the woman quickly destroyed the gnat. "Now she can damage him again." Unfortunately she still had one problem in the shape of a Synchro. "I will have to deal with that one later. I end my turn." That did not make a big difference either, she had no traps left.

"Then if you rely on monsters, those will be sealed next." He drew and summoned the Stinkbug(200/500) he had added to his hand last turn. "I remove an insect in my cemetery, to special summon this; Aztekipede." The Worm Warrior(1900/400) burrowed through the soil, devouring Mosquito along the way, to break out of the ground. "Level 4 Earth worm and level 3 Earth Bug, you will become the third of four." The two were tuned into a gigantic earthen turtle(2350/1600). Its shell alone was big enough to support trees. "That one.. negates monster effects?" Zevgar nodded. "At the cost of a spell in my hand. Now go, dragon of the East and turtle of the North." Balkion roared and burned Amanda Baker down to a crisp, while Landoise stomped its foot down once to make the earth tremble. "Whoa." Rose was knocked down and lost even more lifepoints. Though, like he said, the attack was not that painful. "Now.. since I synchro summoned I can revive the discarded Naturia Ladybug." A flower-patterned bug(100/100) landed on a grass blade.

Christine's LP: 3250

"I activate the spell, Insect Neglect, and end my turn." A wooden cage surrounded the high priest. "..My turn.." She drew a card, and shivered. "This is a cost I will have to pay. I activate Ascension through Rage!" A red light shot down unto the field, from the skies. "I can normal summon 1 'Kataryken' monster from my deck, allthough its effects are sealed and my lifepoints are halved." And she chose the strongest of them all, Kataryken John Baker(4000/4000). "It also can not inflict damage. To the enemy. But it can attack your monsters!" First she wanted to remove the threat to her traps . "Attack Balkion!" John Baker fired a beam from his hands. "Insect Neglect will negate your attack." But the twig cage dispersed all the energy. "Oh no." Her attack did not hit the dragon. "By removing an insect, one attack will be negated." He had removed Aztekipede, leaving him with two more insects to remove. "Tsk. End turn." But at least she had the superior monster on the field. However if she could not attack with it, it was virtually useless.

Christine's LP: 1625

_Ascension through rage, Normal Spell_  
_Pay half your lifepoints, this turn you can normal summon a monster with 'Kataryken' in its name from your deck._  
_The monster can not activate its effect and when it attacks or is attacked, your opponent takes no battle damage._

"Tuner monster: Naturia Tulip." He summoned a flower tuner this turn, the level 2 red Tulip(600/1500). "When a flower-type tuner is normal summoned, Dark Verger will emerge from the ground." A small level 2 plant(0/1000) with eyes on its two leaves was summoned itself out of the graveyard. "The first?" She started to figure out the pattern, each Synchro was one level above the previous. "Indeed. The Tiger of the West: Naturia Beast!" The two plants merged with the level 1 Ladybug to form a level 5 beast; a green-furred tiger with wooden legs(2200/1700). "And it negates.. my spells." Naturia Beast could send to cards to the cemetery from the deck to block any used magic. The three godlike synchros had effectively sealed off her entire field. "This is bad, right?" Elias did not see a way for her to get out of this. "It should be okay, she still has the strongest monster." Though it would take at least 3 more attacks before she could break through Insect Neglect. "Neither can win like this, but we dont have the time." The priest ended his turn.

Rose looked at her hand, only three cards. None of which would be useful with the three Synchros on the field. "I need 'that card'. But to get it, I must.. have faith." She had to believe she could win, to draw the only card that could end this. "Draw!" And without looking at it, she activated it. Because she knew what that spell felt like in her hands. "Lifeforce Nova! When I control Kataryken John Baker, I can discard two monster cards to destroy your monsters and cause damage equal to the attack of the discarded monsters!" She threw away Shield Warrior(800/1600) and Kyle Baxter(1200/2000). "Why do you try this, I shall just negate it!" The tiger took two cards from the deck and raised his claw. "Then I activate The Planets Cry in the same chain!" But the beast was pushed back by a pure white radiance. "What?" And John gathered the life energy in his hand. "The Planets Cry lets any magic go through, regardless of nullifiers or deactivators!" Kataryken John had finished his Nova(total atk: 2000). "Fire!" And he unleashed it upon the Naturias. The blast shook the jungle, smoke spread throughout the trees and shrubs. "Ugh. Man, what kind of spell is that?" William coughed. "It is what she used to defeat Zakarias." Cable explained proudly.

Priest Zevgars LP: 6000

_The Planet's Cry, Quickplay Spell_  
_Activate only when you activate one of your normal spell cards. During this turn normal spell cards can not be negated._

"Yes, she did well." The smoke cleared up, Zevgar walked out slightly singed. I apologize if that hurt you, Zevgar." Rose said before ending her turn. "I accept this pain, miss Rose. It is only for the now." He entered his draw phase, and his next card changed his expression. "But I fear our duel ends now." She and everyone else flinched. "What, how is.." And he discarded a Puppet Plant from his hand. "Oh no!" The plant would take control of any warrior or spellcaster on the field. "Christine he is.." And she could do nothing, nothing to stop Kataryken John Baker from walking over to the opponents side. "This.. is the culmination of John Bakers work, is it not? Yes.. you enjoyed his stories, his creations." She was stunned, but also confused. Kataryken could not inflict damage as he was now. So how was he planning to.. "But his story ends here. He is already one with the golden light, you will follow." A tribute summon was how, he sacrificed John for Naturia Bamboo Shoot(2000/2000). "No..no!" And a direct attack from the Bamboo spirit ended her.

Christine's LP: 0

"Uhnn.." She suddenly felt very tired, and almost fell over. "Oh!" But it was Madlyn who caught her. "Mad.?" Even Rose was surprised at this. "You idiot." The flower girl said, yet her words lacked any shred of resentment. "You should have let me gone first. You know plant deck would have done perfect against his." Hearing this Christine could only smile. "I..know. But I just.. after Jackson left us.. I could not bear to watch anyone go." She looked at Nero. "I do not think, I would have made it further..if someone else had fallen. So if it had to be anyone.." She closed her eyes, and never finished her sentence. Christine Rose faded into the ground below, leaving just a single hair strand in Madlyns fingers. "No.." Nero could not believe it, that she did it for that reason. "You took the flower..." Madlyn glared at Zevgar. "It is my turn now."

(To be Continued in New Testament 114: Survival of the Fittest)

**New Cards used by Christine Rose**  
Rainbow Veil  
_Ascension Through Rage_  
_The Planets Cry_

**New Cards used by Priest Zevgar**  
Naturia Mosquito  
Naturia Guardian  
Naturia Balkion  
Naturia Stinkbug  
Naturia Ladybug  
Naturia Tunip  
Dark Verger  
Naturia Beast

-  
_Verdant Dance_  
Naturia Forest  
Insect Neglect


	114. Survival of the Fittest

**New Testament 114: Survival of the Fittest**

_"I can see.." A disembodied voice echoed across the dimensions. "I can.. only see.." A voice unheard by anyone but its owner, a voice that reached every sector of this world yet could not move one inch from its confinement. "This.. why is this happening." It saw everything around him, it saw all the duels that took place in the realm of the priests. One by one they fell, duelists on both sides. "I should help. I have to help." Just now another one had fallen, another face he remembered. A girl that just like him, did not want to see any more souls gone. "Why are you.. why are you doing this?" The voice also saw people he remembered, from an older time period. "Why do you listen to her. This is not.." And now there was only one left. "Wait.. I know that.. I know him." As much as the voice cried out, it could not affect the outside.._

...

"You will face me, child of the flowers?" Zevgar had beaten Christine, now he faced five more challengers. "I will. They have let me sit on the sidelines for too long." She activated her dueldisk. "And perhaps you could then tell me why.. I was not affected like the others." Inserted her deck. "Why my shadow never arose to challenge me." She drew six cards. "I can answer that." Meanwhile Zevgar had one card in his hand and Naturia Bamboochute(2000/2000) on his field. "its is because you already accepted that part of yourself." He said as he officially ended his turn. "Is that it? Then.. I have even more reasons to do this.."

Madlyns LP: 8000 Priest Zevgars LP: 6000

"Spell card: Fragrance Storm." Madlyn started her game with the magic card that could destroy plants, and she wanted to get rid of the Bamboo spirit. "Hey.." However the card was rejected by her disk. "I fear that you can not use spells or traps while a tribute summoned Bamboochute exists." The storm stayed in her hand. "What, that monster has both negation effects in one?" The Bamboo had both the Beast and Dragons powers. "It's even worse than negation. It stops them for no cost at all." William began to understand why Ankhaten called Zevgar the strongest priest. "Then I shall resort to my monsters. I summon the Bird of Roses." A rose-covered bird with leaves for a body and wings(1800/1500) was summoned to the forest. "It attacks!" And Madlyn sent it on a suicidal charge into the Chute. "What?"

Madlyns LP: 7800

"When Bird of Roses is destroyed as a result of battle, I can special summon two tuner-type monsters from my deck." Halliday explained why she killed her own monster. "I special summon Spore and Cherry Inmato." From her deck came the cotton ball(400/800) and the tiny tomato(700/400) in defense mode. "A synchro summon I see. That would be one way to overpower my field. But.." Zevgar drew his card. "I can seal your monsters effects through other means. I activate Landols' Luminous Moss." A layer of glowing moss covered the bodies of the two tuners. "This turn your monsters can not use their effects." He then summoned an insect, the Naturia Mantis(1700/1500). "Reap and sow..." The insect cut the Inmato into thin slices. Its effect to special summon two more Inmatos was negated by the moss. "Naturia Forest reactivates. Since an effect was stopped, a Naturia spirit is added to my hand." He added a Naturia Fruitfly to his hand. "Then the Spore.." Bamboochute fired seeds at the other tuner to destroy it. "My turn ends."

"I can synchro summon through other means." Madlyn shrugged and started her turn again. "I know. I control all plantlike spirits, so I can foresee you reviving Spore with its own effect." Spore could remove one plant to gain its level and return to the field. "You know a lot, but I know something too. Your Naturia Mantis has the power to destroy any normal summon at the cost of a discarded Naturia." The preying mantis sharpened its scythes in anticipation. "But if I set my monster. Nothing will happen." She smirked and placed one monster down. "But this way you will not be able to synchro summon either."

Zevgar began his turn, summoning another Naturia monster. "Naturia Cliff." A large slab of earth(1500/1000) with mushrooms on top sprouted from the ground. "I shall make this as pleasant as possible." He sent it, Naturia Mantis and Bamboochute to attack her. "I wish you wouldn't." The Cliff flattened her set card, the Violet Witch(1100/1200). "When it is destroyed I can add one plant monster with 1500 defense or less to my hand." She took a Rose Fairy from her deck. "And when Rose Fairy ends up in my hand due to a card effect, it is summoned the field." A small pink pixie(600/1200) flew out of the grass and immediately intercepted the strikes from the Mantis. This left Madlyn with one direct attack, as the spell/trap negator pelted her with seeds. "Hmph.." Yet Halliday barely felt the hits, they were more like love-taps. "You are going easy on us, because you know us.. Is that it?" Zevgar did not reply. "But you never met me, so that might not be it after all." The high priest ended his turn. "Well whatever. Kind or not, I wont feel happy if you win.."

Madlyns LP: 5800

"..I summon the Seed of Flame!" The fire-spewing plant(1600/1200) burst out of the soil. "A normal summon?" And now the Mantis could activate its effect. Yet he chose not to. "I know that card's effect. Were I to destroy it you would special summon a level 4 plant from the graveyard." And he did not want to waste a discard on what would summon a new level 4 plant anyway. "Then I shall not keep you waiting. To bring back the Spore I remove Cherry Inmato from play!" The Spore(400/800) swallowed the level 2 tomato and grew to level 3. "Synchro summon!" The Bird and the Spore became one being, the fearsome Black Rose Dragon(2400/2000). "Since you control Insect Neglect, you can stop my attacks.. So.. I will just have to wipe the field clean of all creatures great and small!" A fierce storm erupted, with the dragon at the center. "Black Rose Guide!" All cards were swept away, including the Naturias and their forest. "This is.. hey..." However not all plantlife had been eradicated, a great oak tree(1800/1400) had grown during the storm.

"You activated the effect of Naturia Cliff; when it is taken down another level 4 Naturia will come from my deck. Naturia White Oak." Now Madlyn was the defenseless one, not her enemy. "But with the Bamboochute cut down, spells can once again be used. I activate Mark of the Rose to take control of your monster!" A red rose mark was carved into the bark of the Oak. "I will not allow that. When you target the White Oak, it will sacrifice itself.. and make the ground ready for two more Naturias." The tree split in half, and two plants germinated from its insides; a rose(400/1700) and a ragflower(1200/2000). "Rosewhip and Ragweed." The former was even a tuner. "He is going to synchro summon again!" Cable tried to warn her. "I know. But I still have this." The girl activated Fragrance Storm, properly this time. "I destroy the tuner: Rosewhip." The rose was sucked up by a small whirlwind and scattered over the field. "Now I can draw a card. And if it is a plant, I can draw again." She drew twice, because her first card was Lord Poison. "When you draw outside your draw phase, Ragweed's effect activates." Suddenly the weed shrivelled up. "I can draw two cards as well, by letting it wilt away." As if he always was one step ahead, every move of her only benefitted him. "Tsk."

"One more spell. The Black Garden!" As an answer she sent the two of them into the thorn maze, surrounding them with black thorned vines on all sides. "Hmm. This is also a way to avoid direct attacks. However.. you may have helped me more than yourself." He drew a card. "What do you mean?" The others looked more worried than Halliday did. "I will show you. I summon Naturia Antjaw." An ant with leafwings flew into the Black Garden(400/200). "That card?" Already the vines constricted it(200/200), and created a token(800/800) on Madlyns side. "Yes. This one.. when my enemy summons a monster..It can summon a new lowlevel Naturia spirit." Antjaw responded to the token by summoning a level 3 Naturia Butterfly(500/1200) from the deck. "But that one will be weakened too." The process repeated, the Butterfly(250/1200) was strapped down and Madlyn received token number two. "It's an endless loop!" Naturia Antjaw could use its effect as many times as it wanted. "Yes. This will continue until no more tokens can be made!"

In the end Madlyn had five garden tokens(800/800), but Zevgar had summoned three more monsters: the level 1 Naturia Vein(200/300) and two level 3 Naturia Rocks(1200/1200). "Butterfly is a level 3 tuner." The insect and the Ant that started this madness became one as the Naturia Beast(2200/1700) was synchro summoned. "Vein is a level 1 tuner.." It and the two Rocks were the materials for the synchro summon of the second Naturia Landoise(2350/1600) "Now your magic and your monsters abilities are once again sealed." The tiger demonstrated this fact by tearing the Black Garden apart, before it could halve his attackpoints as well. "Also, I once again revive Naturia Ladybug(100/100), only this time I shall use it for its own ability By tributing the bug, one monster gains a thousand attackpoints until the end of the turn." The ladybug landed on the tree on the tortoise's shell(3350/1600). "Two of your tokens will now be destroyed. God of the West, God of the North.. make your move." The synchros utterly annihilated the garden seedlings.

Madlyns LP: 1850

"Not yet." Madlyn placed a trap card down and switched her remaining tokens to defense mode. She also placed another monster down. "I do not understand why you would want me to hurt you more, Madlyn. I think your friends would feel the same way." Zevgar started his turn. "But if you want me to show you the power that Christine faced. Here it is.. I summon The Earth - Hex Sealed Fusion." A twisted mess of earth and rock(1000/1600) was made from the surrounding soils. "A fusion replacement monster?" Cable recognized it as the monster commonly used in earthen fusions. "Indeed. This Hex will replace Balkion as the material I shall thus fuse the dragon and the tiger." A hex fusion did not need Polymerization, The Earth merged with Naturia Beast, the endresult was a tiger with dragonlike wooden armor(2800/2400). "Naturia Extrio. The fusion inherits both effects. I remove a card in the grave and discard a card on top of my deck to negate any spell or curse." Now Madlyns facedown was useless. "Attack!" One more token was crushed.

"Hedge Guard!" Halliday however tried to save her facedown from Landoise by discarding the guarding plant. "It wont work." Yet by discarding one of the spells in his hand, Landoise negated that monsters effect. "Then I will use Lord Poison's effect!" It turned out her facedown was the Poison plant of revival. "Again.." However Zevgar had two spells in his hand, so that effect was negated too. "Damn it." Now she was left with two tokens. And there was one more card in his hand, so he could possibly negate one more monster card effect. Though next turn would possibly be her last. "I still do not know why you are acting this way. Normally I can at least see what my enemies are fighting for." Madlyn drew a card. "It is not four our sake. And not for the lady's sake. Then.." She glared at Elias, and his Millennium Puzzle. "..If that is it. I would not be able to feel like you did." She sighed. "Feel like him? What are you saying?" Elias was confused. "I am saying that he is not telling us everything. He is more than just the high priest."

Zevgar said nothing, though that was a tell on its own. "Tuner monster.. Nettles." She called out the level 2 weed tuner(1200/400). "Synchro summon Splendid Rose!" She used it along with the two level 2 tokens to form her level 6 monster: Splendid Rose(2200/2000). "If this does not work. I am out of options." She had to risk triggering Landoise again, to get rid of him for good. "I remove a plant to half a monsters attack!" The rose warrior took the remains of Nettles and used it on the Land-Tortoise(1175/1600). "I have no magic in my hand." The high priest admitted that her gamble paid off. "Then I will attack!" Splendid Rose jumped up and delivered a powerful kick to take down the monster-sealer. "I hurt you.. at last." She ended her turn. "So you did. But isn't it too late now? Extrio is still the stronger monster." One attack would immediately take out Splendid Rose. "Then attack me and stop talking." Halliday seemed ready for it. "If that is your desire. I shall end this now. You should have attacked Extrio, Madlyn Halliday!"

Madlyns LP: 1250 Priest Zevgars LP: 4975

He entered the battle phase. "Naturia Extrio, finish off her rose queen!" The dragon tiger raised its claw. "Madlyn!" The flower girl merely smiled as it came down. "She.." As it came.. and stopped. "What is this?" A shield got in the way. "Shield Warrior?" It was the effect of Christine's card, by removing it from play while in the graveyard Madlyn had kept her synchro alive. "Of course, she discarded it for her Lifeforce Nova! She must have known she could lose the duel!" She had left cards for her follower after all, because Halliday shared the graveyard with Rose. "Now I can once and for all destroy your negators!" She removed another plant in her graveyard, Guard Hedge, to half the attackpoints of Extrio(1400/2400). "Then I normal summon the Rose Witch." Splendid Rose was joined by rose-haired witch(1600/1000). "Attack!" The two monsters struck Zevgar and his fusion with vines coming from their bodies. "You drive me this close to defeat. Madlyn Halliday.. But nobody has ever escaped my seal twice." He grunted. "This is far from over.."

Priest Zevgars LP: 2575

(To be Continued in New Testament 115: Second Nature)

**New Cards used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Bird of Roses  
Rose Witch

**New Cards used by Priest Zevgar**  
Naturia Mantis  
Naturia Cliff  
Naturia White Oak  
Naturia Ragweed  
Naturia Rosewhip  
Naturia Antjaw  
Naturia Butterfly  
Naturia Nerve  
The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion  
Naturia Extrio

-  
Landoise's Luminous Moss


	115. Second Natures

**New Testament 115: Second Natures**

Madlyns LP: 1250 Priest Zevgars LP: 2575

"One more... By removing a dead plant from play, Splendid Rose can attack again after halving her attack!" Madlyn removed Rose Fairy, and the Splendid plant warrior(1100/2000) delivered a spinning kick to the high priest. "That ends my turn." It may have taken a while, but Halliday was finally getting somewhere in this duel. "Draw.." His negation lock had been broken twice now, Zevgar looked annoyed. "I did not expect to be pushed this far by someone who never was chosen by the Lord." He drew a card. "What happened, happened. It is now time to look ahead.. and accept." He summoned another bug, a dragonfly(1200/400). "Naturia Dragonfly. A spirit that is strengthened by all previously buried Naturias." The others gasped. "All of them?" There were 23 Naturia monsters in the cemetery and the insect gained 200 points for each of them (Dragonfly: 5800/400). "Attack the Witch of the Rose!" It buzzed its way towards Madlyns Rose Witch(1600/1000). One hit from it was instantly fatal. "What I accept is still my choice!" So fortunately she still had her trap prepared. "Wall of Thorns!" A barricade of thorned vines erupted from the earth and trapped the Dragonfly within. "Ugh.." The overpowered fly was crushed. "I set two cards and end my turn."

Priest Zevgars LP: 1475

"If the next two attacks hit.. she will win." Nero hoped for the best. "It can not be that easy." William however was mindful of the trap he had so clearly prepared for her. "..Draw." Madlyn added a monster to her hand. "Direct attack!" But the two she had right now was enough to test the waters with. "Trap card." And Zevgar did indeed use his set card. "Hive Barrier. When my opponent attacks I can special summon one lowlevel insect from my cemetery." And from the grave a butterfly(500/1200) appeared. "Naturia Butterfly discards the top card from the deck to negate one attack." He discarded a cards to stop both Splendid Rose, causing Will to wonder just how much cards were in his deck. "I see.. Then I set a monster facedown and switch Rose Witch to defense mode." So close yet so far away, even now the high priest was in control of the game. "You really are tough as they said you would be." Nevertheless she was pleased, this duel was enjoyable to her. "And you deserve to be among the chosen ones after all, Madlyn Halliday."

_Hive Barrier, Continuous Trap_  
_Once per turn, when your opponent declares an attack, you can special summon 1 Level 3 or lower insect-type monster from your graveyard to the field in face-up attack mode._  
_When the monsters summoned by this card's effect are sent to the graveyard they are removed from play._

"However I am not just fighting to enjoy myself.. I activate Miracle Synchro Fusion!" He activated the spell that could fuse Synchros in the graveyard. "What?" A spell card Cable had designed one week ago, a card few knew off. "Any card that exists in the mind can be wielded by us priests, Cable Fraser. Once Prospero accepted the golden light, his magic was added to our memory." He fused the grave-bound Naturia Balkion with Naturia Beast, to fusion summon a second Naturia Extrio(2800/2400). "Traps and spells are sealed all over again, gah." The tiger dragon was reborn and destroyed the only monster that could take it down, Splendid Rose. "Then continuous trap card: Howl of the Wild. Every time a beast slays an opposing monster, my enemy loses 300 lifepoints for every Beast I control." Madlyn lost even more lifeforce.

Madlyns LP: 350

"Do you even know what enjoyment means anymore? You aren't brainwashed like the rest of earth was." Madlyn asked as she started her turn. "I once did. But now I can only feel at peace when I appease my new Lord." He sighed. "To live only for others. I guess I do not know how that feels. Then that makes us even.." She flipped her set Dandylion(300/300) face-up and then sacrificed the Rose Witch. "Rose Witch counts as two tributes for any level 7 or higher plant-monster. I use it to bring out Tytannial!" The Princess of the Camellias(2800/2600) blossomed unto the field. "We are even.. so are they. She attacks Extrio!" The Princess charged the tiger, trying to take both down. "She can destroy the effect of the Butterfly too!" By sending Dandylion to the cemetery, Tytannial negated the Butterfly that tried to stop her attack. The insect shattered and the Camellia royalty clashed with Extrio. "I will do anything I can to ensure the survival of what I see as 'joy'!" The two died simultaneously. "And I see no joy in this world you keep talking about."

Her turn was over. But when Dandylion was sent to the grave, it left behind two fluff tokens(0/0) to protect her. "How can it not be joy then, Madlyn? It is a state of pure bliss, a world of no sorrow and regret. A world of no flaws." Zevgar drew another card. "As I told those twins before. Flaws are what make us human. I do not care if perfection is the end of human evolution, there is nothing left to do once we get that far. For me the journey is far more interesting than the goal." Which certainly explained why she did not seem to have many goals of her own. "You are a lost child. Everyone has a place in their world, you just never tried to look for it." He summoned a new monster, a trio of green beans in a pod(100/1200). They destroyed one of the two fluff tokens. "Now you have a choice to make. Either you continue the endless path you are on, or you let me help you find the road to the ultimate destiny. Either way I will not budge here." He ended his turn. "That monster, is not good.." Cable knew what it did. "Naturia Beans. If she attacks it, she will lose lifepoints."

Before any attack could hit it, Naturia Beans would do 500 damage to the attacker. That was more than she had. "..." So even if she did have monsters to attack with, it would be suicide. "Set card, end turn." But she had drawn a trap, so it did not matter. "Draw." However the trap was one that could prove problematic. "Hmm." But did not want to risk setting it off, he switched his Naturia to defense mode. He also placed another monster down. "At this rate he will Synchro summon again." Nero did not like this stalemate. "If you are waiting for an answer, I already have one." In her next turn she drew a spell card. "If one had to be brainwashed to accept bliss, how can it be perfect? Spell card: Super Nourished Sun." She tributed the remaining token. "By tributing a lowlevel plant, one of three levels higher will come to my field." The level 1 token made room for a level 4 monster, The Princess of Thorns(1100/900). "That plant?" Zevgar knew its abilities as well, the Princess of thorns would give a player more lifepoints every time a plant was summoned.

"One more plant is all she will need to kill the Beans." He could not let that happen, he had to get rid of it before her next turn. He did not dare lose now. "Draw!" But he realized how he could pull it off. "Flip summon: Naturia Sunflower." A sunflower plant showed its face(500/0). "He summoned one!" The Thorn Princess tried to restore life already. "Now!" However the flower started to shine like the sun. "What?" And the light enveloped the Beans. "By tributing Naturia Sunflower along with another Naturia spirit, a monster effect will be stopped completely!" His two plants died to drag hers down with her. Now she was completely unprotected. Her last trap was actually Pollinosis, which she could no longer use because there were no plants left to tribute. "Normal summon, Naturia Hostneedle." A leafwinged bee(1800/100) zoomed through the grassy fields. "Direct attack." And one sting to her shoulder was all it needed to end their duel for good. "H.." Madlyn barely felt it, the poison that entered her body. "I am sorry, I made the choice for you.." The girl dropped to her knees, touching her shoulder. "What.. next.." The world around her started to look chaotic, disorienting...vague. "I.. I'm scared." And then everything was erased, she saw nothing but light.

Madlyns LP: 0

"No!" They had lost again, even someone with full lifepoints could not win against an already weakened High Priest. "Madlyn.." And though they had not known her that well, they were saddened by her defeat and subsequent disappearance. "Damn you.. Damn you all." Elias was most frustrated of all. "Elias, calm down. You shouldn't.." His friends feared that he would step up next, even though they had not reached the last enemy yet. "No. I have had enough of this, enough of these people. They claim one soul after the other, while I can not do anything. Their old Pharaoh does not show himself, they blindly obey their new one. I hate it." He looked at Zevgar. "How can you tell me that this is what everyone needs, when you force it upon people.. force it upon children!" He still remembered the lifeless faces of the orphans, the joyless expressions. "That is not Naturia, that is not right! It has to.." And in the middle of his sentence, it happened. "It.." The Millennium Puzzle that hung around his neck trembled, rays of light shot out of the Item.

Elias was sent into another world. It felt just like all the previous times, he could no longer smell or touch the world around him, only sight and sound reached him here. "What?" But this time it was different, this time he was not alone. "You..you are." He saw the image of a man, a taller man in royal egyptian attire. "You are the Pharaoh?" This was the first time for him, the first time he saw Raness with his own eyes. "You can see me now?" Raness sounded actually surprised. "Then we must be getting more integrated. A closer connection between host and spirit." He closed his eyes. "I have never been able to say to you, how much I honor you.. Elias Gained." Elias flinched. "Wh-what? You.. honor me?" He did not expect that. "Yes, you accepted me. You allowed me to do much good. I did not want to possess your body, but it was the only way. And it still is.." He had to do it again, take over. "I understand.. they need you now." Gaines smiled at him, and gave him the thumbs up. "Ah.." Raness smiled back. "Okay.."

"He is awake?" Meanwhile in the real world Zevgar could only assume this was a response from the spirit inside the puzzle, the only one who could give of this kind of energy. And the body of Elias finally responded to that world. "Greetings.." The students tone changed as he glared at the high priest. "Brother.." And then everyone fell silent. "..so you knew." Only Zevgar was not shocked. "What!"

Then it finally sunk in. "I have known since I saw your spirits true self, Metru. I could not tell when you spoke through the bodies of others.." Nero, Cable and William finally understood what was going on. Raness had returned and revealed who the high priest really was. "Of course.. we saw him too in the Memory World. He had a younger sister and a little brother.." And if Senes had taken up the role of a priest, Metru could have done so as well. "You will have to forgive me then, brother. I did not want to reveal my true identity while your memories were still fragmented. So I took the name of Zevgar, the name of the first priest to wield this." The Ring around his neck shone for an instant. "So tell me, big brother. Have your memories returned? Is that why you slept for so long?" Despite their apparent shared blood, Metru/Zevgar did not speak with kind words. "I have.. I recall everything now. Even my own death." He looked at the others. "I regret that it took me this long.. So many of you have given their freedom to give us a chance to reach Seneska. Had my memories not been keeping me away, I might have been able to save them. The gods might have been able to save everyone." He felt like he could never apologize enough.

"But you, Brother, you have a new lord now I hear. Somehow you let our sister take over.." He shook his head. "Even though she is still the same as she was a thousand years ago, still obsessed and controlling. I can not understand how you could follow her now, knowing what she put us through back then. It was all for her same grand design." Raness did not raise his voice, but they could feel his anger. "Hearts can change over time, brother. While you have been sleeping safely inside your puzzle, the souls of the priests you left behind were charged with the task of defending the four worlds. We saw much evil over the centuries. She returned just in time to show us the beauty of the world on the other side of the gate. Once the six of us caught a glimpse of Alkahest's world, we knew we were wrong all along." He took his item and tossed it aside. "You are still deluded brother, you have been following the footsteps or our father to strictly to see any other path!" He clenched his fist. "Even if it means the death of one of us, I will protect our sister from you." Raness could only look at his sibling with a look of sadness. "In the end no mind could stand up to her words, not even yours." Metru smirked. "And now what, Raness? Do you risk a duel with me?"

"He might not. But I will!" Another voice spoke up to announce its arrival. "What, more intruders?" Everyone looked behind them to see two new souls. "Her? But I thought.." One was Jane Doe herself. "She was dealt with, the phoenix had.." And the other was even more shocking to see. "C..Cleo?" Cleo Caine stood besides Jane Doe, looking alive and well. As alive as you could call yourself in this place. "Hello guys. Looks like I got here just in time." She was rather spirited and energetic at that, compared to Jane who looked pretty out of it. "How..why... when.." Nero, Cable and William only had one expression though; confusion. "I can tell that you don't know how this is at all possible. Not even that guy over there.." She pointed at a annoyed looking Metru. "It is a really long story. But it can all be attributed to two answers. Two people saved a part of me after my 'death'." She winked at Jane. "She was one of them. But she did not even know about it. As for the other.." Cleo could not help but laugh a little. "Guess who.. it was Anima.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 116: Back in Black)

**New Card used by Madlyn Halliday  
**Super Nourished Sun

**New Cards used by Priest Zevgar  
**Naturia Dragonfly  
Naturia Beans  
Naturia Sunflower  
Naturia Hostneedle

-  
Miracle Synchro Fusion

-  
_Hive Barrier  
_Howl of the Wild


	116. Back in Black

**New Testament 116: Back in Black**

"Anima?" Cleo gave them the name of the soul that helped her. "Anima Anima? Not taken-over-by-Agryos-Anima?" The thing was, they knew several of those, and all of them were supposed to be dead. "A simple explanation wont do it justice, after what I went through. The best I can do is compare it to a split up dream. Agryos was the one who defeated me, my life energy and memories were stuck to him. He had only ever claimed parts of two souls.. Me and Anima's. We were imprisoned until the silver pillar fell and the shadow world was destroyed. I hear Ananka tried to find me, but at that time our souls were still too weak to be seen by others. And by the time we 'healed' the golden light was already upon us." She only managed to escape the brainwashing of the Albedo because she knew the real name of Raness. "Then if only your soul was claimed, what happened to your body?" When they returned from the shadow world, Caine's body was nowhere to be seen. "It was closer by than you thought.. someone else kept it. Jane Doe.."

She looked at Jane, who by no was resting in the grass. "What happened to her. Or for that matter how did she get here?" She did not look completely fine to them. "Another long story, which I don't know too much about. But I do know that what remained of my essence, was reshapen. Jane was the one who converted everything about is into spirits that could traverse her kind of world. But when she was forcibly returned along with the rest, she must have accidentally fused with my body." Which would explain why she could suddenly interact without the need for a host. "So you were Jane all that time?" Nero glared at Doe. "..." She could not find the energy to look at him. "It's not her fault. And I would still have been 'gone' in a sense if that had not happened. It was not until she entered the world of souls that I could become a whole entity again." She had effectively stored one part of Cleo inside her, while the other part roamed the afterlife. "Anima and I just found her drifting the void, at which point I again remembered who I was.. and what I had to do."

She stepped up and walked towards the high Priest. "You people have been making short work of my friends, havent you? Christine, Jackson, Ananka, Colin.." Metru smirked again. "They are in a better place now. I thought you had already gone there as well, but I should have known a shadow of Cleo Caine remained somewhere. So tell me.. where is Anima now?" He looked around, nobody but her had shown up just now. "I probably should have been clearer. Throughout all that, Anima was already affected by the gate. Yet he remembered me strongly enough to help me become whole. After that he could no longer resist whatever Seneska had started and followed the other souls.. of the living and dead." William flinched. "You mean the entire world.." They had not been aware of that at all. "Citrinitas is what they call it." They being other souls she had spoken too along the way. "The third step has claimed all souls from all worlds. Nobody is left but the six of us. Nobody that is willing to stop this plan of miss perfectworld."

"I know how little time we have left. So I wont sit and wait around any longer." She summoned a dueldisk. "I have fully recovered, and I am ready to kick some priest ass. If that is okay with you, Raness." The Pharaoh had nearly challenged his brother himself after all. "I wont make you regret it." She added. "This is for the best, I know." Raness knew he had to save his strength for his sister. "You are okay with this brother? Let another one of your chosen ones throw away their life for your ideals?" The priest scoffed at them both. "The same way your new boss expect you to throw away your lives?" Nero yelled at him. "This is different, I am willing to die here. But not before I take as much of you down with me. I can make it as painless as possible, but I will not yield!" He took his stance. "If you want to die.. Fine by me!" Cleo drew her cards. "I will make sure Rose and even Halliday did not 'sacrifice' themselves in vain." She placed one monster card and one trap card down. "Cleo. You have not changed at all." Metru sighed.

Priest Zevgar/Metru's LP: 1475 Cleo's LP: 8000

"How would you even know? Is the few times you spoke through Nero really enough to become a character judge?" She snapped at him as she ended her turn. "I could hear everything even when I was not speaking. But that is not the subject here.." He sent his monster, Naturia Hostneedle(1800/100) to attack her set monster. "Let me guess. I wont have a need for anger and spite when I join the ones you already defeated, right?" Her monster, Mad Reloader(0/0) was stabbed and died because of the poison. Thanks to this she could discard two cards and drew two new cards. "This is not about anger or revenge... I activate Grave of Enkindling!" Because a monster of hers died, both players could special summon a monster from their grave. "It is about finishing what we set out to do." And while the priest brought back a Naturia Fruitfly(800/1500) he had discarded, she brought back the Dandylion(300/300). "Madlyn's monster?" They shared graveyards as well as fields, and now she could use her counter trap Pollinosis, in case he tried to use a spell or trap again. "See what I am getting at?"

"Yes. But.." He did not end his turn yet. "Fruitfly takes control of that plant!" Suddenly the Dandylions defense went down(300/0). "Hey?" And it walked over to the other side of the grass field. "Fruitfly can reduce my enemy's monsters defense by 300 for every Naturia spirit on the field. Then it can possess one such defenseless monster. And now your trap is useless." He then sacrificed Dandylion for the most annoying of non-synchro Naturias: Naturia Bambooshoot(2000/2000). "What the.." But the removal of the Lion left another pair of fluff-tokens(0/0) behind. "Shoot. He sealed trap and spell cards again." Metru seemed to have infinite ways to bring out that lock. "Not if I kill it first!" She could not use Pollinosis now anyway, so the fluff-tokens were just fodder. "I tribute summon!" As soon as her turn came up, she sacrificed the tokens for a devilish machine(2800/2000). "Fiendish Engine Omega; Attack the Bamboo Naturia!" The demon machine released steam and raised its claw. "I think you have not sufficiently familiarized yourself with the field of battle, Cleo." A new insect appeared, the Naturia Stinkbug(200/500). "Trap card: Hive Barrier. When you attack I can revive one insect." He still had that card at the hand. "It negates your attack.."

Naturia Stinkbug's effect was to offer itself to save another Naturia and stop the battle phase. "Damn." Cleo then ended her turn. And Omega tried to produce a token during that turn. "Naturia Hostneedle!" But the bee released a stinger from its abdomen, which punctured both Fruitfly and the token(200/200) Omega made. "When he can not seal effects of monsters he seals off summons instead huh." Slowly Caine began to see why this one was so hard to take down. "Naturia Butterfly." And as soon as his turn started he added even more problems as he resummoned the attack negating tuner (500/1200). "Level 4 Hostneedle, Level 3 Butterfly. I use them to Synchro summon the God of the North!" From his extra deck the great Landoise(2350/1600) received a new form. "Synchro summoning.." And because had synchro summoned succesfully, he could bring back the Naturia Ladybug(100/100) a third time. "I tribute the Ladybug to empower Bambooshoot. And now nature strikes!" The strengthened Bamboo plant(3000/2000) destroyed the Omega engine. Afterwards the Land Tortoise stomped on the ground to knock Cleo down. "Already your third sacrifice is suffering." He ended his turn. "How much longer will you just watch?"

Cleo's LP: 5450

"Hey. He is not the one dueling you here." Cleo started her next turn. "Because you control two more monsters than I do, I can special summon the Fiend Megacyber. And it will attack your Bambooshoot!" The cybernetic warrior(2200/1200) leaped towards the now Ladybug-less trap/spell negator(2000/2000). "But you can not affect the outcome of this duel at all." However Hive Barrier could stop this attack too. "Naturia Butterfly." He revived the tuner he just used, only to have it use its effect of discarding the top card from the deck to negate her attack. "Ggh." The Megacyber froze. "Then I set a trap." Her turn was over. "It is pointless to try to trap me. You should know that." He drew again. "This whole game was futile, because now I win.." He started off with the spell card Monster Reborn.

"What?" He revived the Naturia fusion from his cemetery, Naturia Extrio(2800/2400). "And then.." At the same time he tuned the Butterfly with Bambooshoot, into a level 9 Synchro. "Naturia Leodrake." He had exchanged one negator for another, so he could call the floral Lion(3000/1800) from the extra deck. "He is going for the kill!" Metru had enough attackpoints now to wipe out Cleo in one attack. Especially after he used the same Ladybug to boost the attack of Extrio(3800/2400). "Leodrake attacks first." The lion swiped through her warrior with its claws. "Wild Roar then activates." His other continuous trap was also still in effect, inflicting 300 damage to the duelist for each beast (Leodrake, Extrio) on the field whenever a beast killed a monster. "And now the finale. Your face-down can not stop, no face-down can." The gods of the West, East and North launched a combined assault. "Cleo!" However she just smiled. "I discard Quick-Attack Scarecrow." To his surprise, a scarecrow monster came from her hand and absorbed all blows. "Did you think I had not updated my deck at all?" The battle phase was over. "I can discard this Scarecrow from my hand to negate a direct attack and end the battle phase."

Cleo's LP: 4050

"You could have stopped this if you had kept that spell in your hand. But you were too eager to end it now, weren't you?" He had to end his turn and let her continue. "It matters not. Without traps and spells, what can you do?" Cleo drew a card. "I can do this.." She activated a card from her hand, Mind Control. "Futile!" He of course chained by removing a card in his grave and discarding the top card from his deck, which allowed Extrio to negate it. "Is it?" Yet then Cleo activated her facedown Book of Eclipse quickplay spell. "I know the flaw of that card, High Priest! It can only negate one card in a chain!" He had already chosen Mind Control, nothing could prevent the dark book. "Your monsters will all be flipped face-down!" The Naturias were hidden away. Due to this, Mind Control could not be negated and it took control of Naturia Landoise. "Tsk. Even now, can you kill them all in time?" Metru was confident that the last cards in her hand would not do enough damage. "Let's see shall we?"

She normal summoned a Kuriboh(300/200). "That thing?" And then she activated the final card in her hand, Puppet Magic of Dark Ruler. "This spell sacrifices a monster for a fallen fiend of an equal level!" She offered the Landoise she had stolen, to revive one of the monsters Mad Reloader had discarded earlier. "Emissary from Pandemonium." A demonic level 7 hellhound(2600/1800) clad in leather and chains appeared. "Wait.. That is a tuner!" One of the highest levels too. "Is she.." Cable had never seen her synchro summon before. "You could say I met new spirits, new imaginations. And you know how this works. Level 1 and Level 7..is level 8." The Emissary was tuned with the Kuriboh, as a dark shape emerged. Hundreds of eyes sprouted from its entire body, as it revealed itself as a large grey dragon(3000/2500). "Hundred-Eyes Dragon!" This was her new synchro, one that could only be summoned if its materials were a darkling and a demon tuner.

"It can copy the power of any level 6-or lower dark monster in the grave. And I believe Christine had one such monster, just dying to be used." Of all the cards, she chose to copy the Twin Sword Marauder. The spirit of the warrior was drained into the great eye on the dragons chest. "Oh!" Now Hundred Eyes Dragon could inflict piercing damage. "I already honored the 'sacrifice' of Madlyn, and you laughed it off. Now laugh this off." Hive Barrier could not save him this time, it had already used up Stinkbug and both Butterflies. "I attack the face-down Landoise!" The dragon released a blast from its mouth which destroyed the Tortoise. "And when Twin Swords attacks a defending monster, it can attack again.. so.." The many eyes of the synchro turned to the left card, Naturia Extrio. "No.." Metru knew it. He had lost. "Before I finish you, I want to ask you something." She held back the attack for now. "East, West and North. But I see no South god in your extra deck.. Why didn't you summon that?" The theme was lacking one Synchro.

Priest Metru/Zevgars LP: 75

"Because.. there already is a phoenix. The god of the south if the same as our great sungod.." He looked at his older brother. "Raness. Do not let them fight the phoenix. He is beyond any of them." In the background Jane Doe started to shiver just from hearing the name. "Only a Pharaoh can face that kind of power, the power of the sentinel above all other sentinels." Raness was surprised that he even gave such a warning. "Metru..." The high priest turned back to Cleo. "I am ready now." He closed his eyes. "Good." She sent her dark dragon out once more. "Infinity Sight Stream!" The creature unleashed blasts from all its eyes, which utterly annihilated the fused dragon/tiger. "It is fine this way." His body started to sink into the ground, pulled in by roots. "At least this way I can serve my new lord and my old lord." His Millennium Ring was pulled under as well. "My brother and my sister." He gave Raness one last look. "Raness. I have always admired your sacrifice. But this time, I will be the first to die." And at last the high priest was gone.

Priest Metru/Zevgars LP: 0

(To be Continued in New Testament 117: Crash and Burn)

**New Cards used by Priest Zevgar/Metru  
**Naturia Fruitfly  
Naturia Leodrake

-  
Monster Reborn

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Quick-Attack Scarecrow  
Emissary from Pandemonium  
Hundred-Eyes Dragon

-  
Puppet Magic of Dark Ruler


	117. Crash and Burn

**New Testament 117: Crash and Burn**

"One more to go.." Cleo deactivated her dueldisk. "Though I wonder.. what is higher then the high priest?" Metru had warned them about the sixth sentinel, but they had seen only five lights. "It makes sense that there would be a sixth, wouldn't it? Darkness, Fire, Water, Wind and Earth; we still have not dueled anyone of the Light attribute." As far as Cable knew there were only those six elements in the spirit world. "That is technically correct, but the sixth sentinel is not actually the sixth priest. You forget that.. my sister was a priest as well." Raness himself spoke up. Now that his memories were back he could remember it the best. "She is the one who controlled the light, or at least she would have been." They had seen her duel twice now, and her deck had all six attributes rather than one. "She always wanted more. She hated limits." In fact it was Raness who had no limited himself to the light spirits. "But the sixth sentinel is someone I have never met in my generation. But I can guess what his powers are..what his spirit is."

The rainforest around them started to decay, the trees dried up and crumbled while the grass was blown away by a severe wind. "We are about to meet him I suppose." The changing landscape was indicative of a new challenger. "Jane.." And from what they heard of another companion, one of them had faced it before. "Jane.. what happened to you? How did you get here?" Nero tried to reach out to the girl, but she flinched at the mere sight of him. "No!" She moved back. "Not him..not him again." Cleo sighed. "It's no use. She followed me but never spoke to me. I do not think she wants to be left alone." But she apparently also did not want to move ahead. "If she saw the same thing we did.." William recalled the fiery entity that greeted them the moment they stepped into the new world. "Then maybe it caused her to feel fear for the first time." And he also knew that Jane was not exactly someone with many experiences in the area of emotions. "Well from the look of things, we wont have to go anywhere.." The last patch of forest had vanished.

"I see. Of course it is back here." A desert was all that remained, a few stray palm trees here and there but that was all the life remaining. "But what is that?" Yet in the distance they could see ruins, ancient Egyptian ruins. "That is.. the city of On." Raness recognized it. "It was the capitol of before my time, the center of our agriculture and religion." And amidst the many pillars and Obelisks, one construction stood... untarnished by time. A temple surrounded by walls, high gate-doors preceded by status of the gods themselves. "Yes I read about this. This is were they worshipped the Ra himself, a city devoted to the god of the sun. The greeks later called it by another name: Heliopolis." And they could think of a perfectly valid reason why they were brought here for their next fight. They all looked up and saw the sun in the sky, shining as red as the blood inside them. "That can not be good." The flames had only grown since they last laid their eyes upon it. "The final process is the red one, Seneska must be close to completing it."

And then it happened once more, one of the flares from the sun separated from the sphere, flying down towards those in the desert. "It comes!" Everyone watched in amazement, except for Jane who averted her eyes and hid behind a palm tree. In one bright flash of energy the phoenix had lowered itself to them. "So you have succeeded in coming this far." It spoke with the same booming voice, anger apparent in its tone. "And now even you, Lord of the Gods, have aligned yourself with them." Even Raness had to sweat a little, this close to the 'god'. "All five priests have been defeaten, but not all six sentinels. You stand before me, the Sentinel of the Sun itself. The ruler of the light and the divine!" As it spoke these words it extended its wings to send its rays across the horizon, covering everything with its burning radiance. "Gah!" And this was just a display of its power. "So she has even bended your mind to her will." The pharaoh shook his head. "My memories tell me what you have to be, sentinel. You are not a priest of my generation.. you are not a priest at all, are you?" He halfsmiled. "You are like me.. an Pharaoh. Or should I say.. a former Pharaoh" That seemed to reach the phoenix, because it started to decrease in size. "You are correct."

The flames dissipated as well, leaving just a figure. "I was one before you, one of the first. The Pharaoh that waged the war against Atlantis" A man stepped out of the fire unto the sand, which literally melted into glass under his feet. "I was the first to speak to the spirits.. the Pharaoh that ordered the creation of the Millennium Items and started the system of the six priests. And I was the first that called upon the sun itself." Around his neck hung the Millennium Puzzle. "I am the first, you are the last. You may call me the sentinel.. Amon." His face was revealed, he looked almost exactly like Raness except older. "The Alfa and the Omega." Now Cleo understood why Metru would bother to tell them about this guy. "It is not a matter of power, it is a matter of titles." They as the priests had dueled the priests of Seneska. But the first Pharaoh was possibly too dangerous to take on by themselves. "I will face you, Amon. Though I pity the fact that we had to meet under these circumstances. And that my sister has twisted your soul like this."

"Wait." Cable approached the two. "I have to ask, before you begins.." He glanced at the cowering Jane and then back to the Sentinel. "What did you do to her? What happened?" He knew this had to be the man that had stopped Jane, yet left her alive. "She used the power of the unholy god, summoning what remained of Ger and Orichalcos to force her way towards my Lord." Nero glared at the girl as well. "She did that?" He did not even know where she could have gotten a connection to the Orichalcos from. "Two humans helped her get it. But they are with the golden light now. But as much as it was my desire, I did not harm her in any way. The Lord Seneska ordered her to be left alive. Perhaps because she no longer had a soul that had to be converted.." Jackson Doe was gone for good, so they did not even need to erase his shadow. "Two others? Don't tell me.." William's only guesses were Rivet and Catherine, and he was right. "It is of no consequence to the grand design. I only need to vanquish five more shadows. I must eliminate those that carry the items. Nero, Cleo, Cable, William. And you Raness. I can not let any one of you pass." Raness activated the dueldisk strapped to his arm. "Then there is only one path to take from here."

"I shall be your opponent." He took the cards Elias kept with him and inserted them into the disk. "Are you sure? If you lose.." They did not stand much of a chance against Seneska without his help. "It will work out. I have to do this." Amon raised his arm and a bolt of lightning came from the reddened skies. "So it shall be." He former a disk of pure golden energy on which he could place his cards. "As a show of my respect for your sacrifice, I shall relinquish the first turn to you.. Raness." Amon conjured up five cards. "I thnk you for that, Pharaoh Amon." He drew six cards. "I summon the Lightsworn Monk, Ehren in attacking position. Then I place two cards faced down and my turn is over." His first monster was of the Light, the female brawler(1600/1000). "Yes, the element of light. The one element that can thrive even here. The darkness suffers and the natural elements are diminished..." He spoke as if gods were actually the only type of monster that could hurt him, in which case Raness was indeed their only chance. "Now the real duel can begin."

"Diara!"

Sentinel Amons LP: 8000 Raness's LP: 8000

"And I will show you, the last thing you have forgotten. The last name you will recall." He activated two quickplay spell cards at once. "Celestial Transformation." First a beam of light shone down from the sky, hitting a card in his hand. "An angel will be special summoned, its strength halved." The fairy-type Athena(1300/800), the armored goddess of wisdom. "And because its strength is halved, the second magic can affect it. Inferno Reckless Summon." Then a wall of fire burst through the glassed sand. "Two more monsters with less then 1500 attack will be special summoned from the deck." Two more Athena's(2600/800) appeared, their stats were not cut. "When an angel is summoned while Athena lives, my enemy loses lifepoints." Raness already was burned by holy light, 600 points were taken away. At the same time the Inferno raised two more of Raness's monsters from the deck, giving him three Ehrens as a defense. "Three sacrifices?" But the signs were there that the Athena trio was not just there for power. "The third god.."

Raness's LP: 7400

"Ra.." The goddesses were tributed, their spirits blasting into the sun itself. Golden rays pierced through the flames, revealing a round sphere of the same color. "What?" Amon at the same time began a strange chant. "He is speaking the word to summon Ra..the text that only us Pharaohs can speak." Raness alone knew what he was saying. "You mean.. Hieratic text?" Cable had read about that too, but never dreamed he would hear it. "Yes." And it was coming, the sungod listened to the chant and changed its shape. "Something is coming out!" The sphere unfolded itself; wings spread, legs lowered, claws stretched out. "That is..that is.." It was the monster Jane had seen. No, the god that had crushed the powers of Orichalcos. "Winged Dragon of Ra." The golden dragon landed, sending waves of sand in every direction. "You have already summoned Obelisk, God of Earth. Your host also summoned Osiris, God of Heaven. Now you face Ra, God of Everything beyond Heaven. If you overcome this, Ra will be yours to use.. Raness."

"Ra's first power." Amon pointed his finger at the God above him. "It takes the power of its offerings. Three times Athena is its current limit!" The god roared, as the disk measured the stats of Ra(7800/2400). "That many points?" One direct attack would end almost any duel. "It strikes the middle Lightsworn!" Of course he would choose the one that was originally on the field, as the rest were special summoned in defense mode. "No!" But Raness flipped one trap card almost instinctively. "You know as well as I do that curses can not affect a god!" Ra tried to ready its mighty cannon, yet it could not charge energy. "I know that! That is why I am going after you, Amon! My trap card is Pixie Ring!" A protective halo surrounded all three Ehrens. "This continuous trap prevents you from attacking the weakest monster on the field, when I control more than one monster." And in this case all his monsters were equally 'weak', so Amon could not target any of the trio. "A god might be eternal, but its summoners are not. You should know this too.."

"And now he has three tributes as well." Cleo smirked. If he could draw one of his gods, he might just stand a chance. "Then I shall end my turn." However Raness needed one first, his hand had nothing that could kill Ra as of right now. "I draw!" But when he looked at his hand after the draw phase, his odds had been altered drastically. "First I special summon Guardian of Order. A monster that can be special summoned when a player controls 2 or more Light-monsters." An armored angel-like warrior(2500/1200) appeared. "And then I sacrifice it along with two of the three Lightsworns!" Three monsters were swallowed by the desert, and blue light erupted from below. "He did it?" The hulking blue titan ascended, the God of Obelisk(4000/4000). "Obelisk, the Tormentor. Yes he was the god summoned first, the god who answered my call first." Amon looked at it and smiled. "This takes me back. But..how do you plan to proceed?" His divine class spirit was superior to Raness's. "I will show you a power of my god, you will know which one.. By removing two light-elementals in my cemetery, I can special summon Soul of Purity and Light!" A white female angel(2000/1800) joined the last Ehren. "Two sacrifices will unseal any limit to Obelisk."

The blue tormentor grabbed the Soul and Lightsworn Monk, and drained them of all their energy. "Soul Energy Max!" Obelisk's attack went up all the way to infinity. "Awesome!" For the others this was the second time they saw it, but it was good to see it again. One attack would end the duel right now. "Obelisk attacks Ra!" The god released a large blast from both its fists. "Hmph." Yet at the last second all that infinite power just bounced off against an unseen barrier. "What? How did it not hit!" They did not understand at all. "Soul Energy Max is still an effect of a spirit, a lesser spirit. Even god's obey other gods." Ra was untouched, and the attack ended. "No fatal effect can touch Ra, not even those of Osiris and Obelisk. They are of a lower hierarchy, at the bottom of the pyramid." Once the battle was done with, Obelisk lost his attackboost, and was now again beneath ra in strength. "Raness, as you are right now, you are not fit to wield Ra. Ra will obey me until its dying breath. For upon is the dawn of a godless age, the end of the distance between god and man!" The sky suddenly changed color, shifting from the bloodred dusk to an empty night. "What?" However the sun still shone as bright as ever, this was no normal evenfall. "It is almost time?"

(To be Continued in New Testament 118: Deicide)

**New Cards used by Pharaoh Raness  
**Guardian of Order  
Soul of Purity and Light

-  
Pixie Ring

**Cards used by Sentinel Amon  
**Athena|  
Winged Dragon of Ra

-  
Celestial Transformation  
Inferno Reckless Summon


	118. Deicide

**New Testament 118: Deicide**

_"We are running out of time."_ Obelisk(4000/4000) had failed, not even it with its limitless power could lay a hand on the god of the sun, the golden dragon Ra(7800/2400). "How could it have failed, it was just an attack!" Cleo was not happy to see such an attack go to waste. "It is true, Ra is beyond even infinity. Beyond heaven and earth." He placed one card down. "Traps can not affect it, magic can not destroy it, and most weakening curses will only last for a single turn. I have to overpower it with strength gained through normal means." For instance if he had Honest in his hand, he could kill it easily. "I end my turn." For now though he had to stall for time. "And when your turn begins I activate the Thunder of Ruler! Your next battle phase is skipped!" A bolt of lightning came down from the dark skies, it kept Ra at bay. "If you can not touch god, you touch his summoner is that it?" Amon was not immune to traps, nor were his battle phases. "But if you a pharaoh, than you must not resign your fate to time and defense. You can do so much more."

Raness's LP: 7400 Sentinel Amons LP: 8000

"What is he talking about?" Nero asked Cable. "He must mean that he and Raness both have the same rumored power; the ability to influence their fortune." At times they had been known to draw just what they needed, and not by accident. "In others words, cheating?" Cleo scoffed. "If it lets him win. We should not complain." William sighed. "Draw!" Amon had ended his turn already, because he could not attack anyway. "Tsk." But what the pharaoh added to his hand was neither Honest, nor anything that would give Obelisk a fighting chance. Not even a trap that could stop the next attack. "I switch the Tormentor to defense mode and set one monster card facedown." It had gotten bad enough that he had to defend with a literal god. "More spirits to hide behind. Do not think I will rely on the sun alone." Amon summoned another monster, a celtic light mage(1700/600) "Mei-Kou, Master of Barriers." He started his battle phase. "Both will be destroyed.. And Ra strikes first." The sungod charged its solar energy. "God Blaze Cannon!" From the ring on its back, a bright beam of sun energy came, blazing towards Obelisk. "I activate Necro Gardna!" But Raness removed a dark warrior in his graveyard from play to negate the attack. "Necro..Gardna?"

Nero recognized it, he often used that monster as well. "A dark monster?" He must have sent it to the graveyard during his first turn, when Ehren the Lightsworn discarded three cards from the top of his deck during the endphase. "When did you start putting creatures of that element in your deck?" They did not think he could go that far just to win. "It was not my card.. Elias recommended it to me." Everyone gasped. "He did? Then again he did say he made some changes.." Cleo had seen Elias duel that way first-hand. "It fits the theme of the Lightsworn, an effect that comes from the grave." Just because it was a dark-type, did not mean it was useless. "So that is your reasoning. Very well." The god blaze was diverted, monster effects could at least influence a god's moves. "But my attack is not done yet." Mei-Kou used his beads to cast a spell that blew up the face-down. "You destroyed Rai-Mei!" The Master of Barrier killed a charged up female(1400/1200) in purple spandex. "Now I can add a lowlevel light monster to my hand." He could not claim Honest, whose level was too high. "Effect Veiler.." But he could claim the monster that negated other monsters effects. With it he could even block the effect of Ra that gave him his tremendous attackpower.

"I fear I was one step ahead of you, Pharaoh." Amon flipped his trap card face-up. "Mind Crush!" He pointed one finger at his opponents hand. "I declare a cards name, and if it is in your hand it will be destroyed. And I declare Effect Veiler!" A beam of negative light came from his hand and it shattered the monster like glass. "Gah." The Pharaoh's plan was foiled. "I may not know what lies ahead in that deck of yours, but I find it simple to put myself in your position. I can see what strategies you will try to use." He entered main phase 2. "Mei-Kou sacrifices itself!" The mage clapped its hands together and converted itself to life energy. "By doing so one continuous effect will cease.." The energy changed into a rune, which appeared beneath the Pixie Ring trap. Said trap was erased by the light. "This turn is over."

Raness knew he was running out of time, he could see that just by looking at the sky and the sun. But because he had expended so much cards just to summon Obelisk, every draw could make of break the game. "Draw.." This time he drew a Lightsworn, Celestia. It technically could destroy cards when tribute summoned, but that likely would not even bother Ra. "I activate my face-down spell card: Solar Recharge." Instead he discarded Celestia, a cost for this spell that allowed him to draw twice. ".." He gained a trap and another Lightsworn for which he had no use. "Then I discard two cards." Solar Recharge also forced him to discard twice. "Hm?" But one of those was a very interesting monster, another suggestion of Elias. "I switch Obelisk back to attack position." The other duelists were stunned. "What? Why would you?"

"Because.. he can destroy Ra." He selected the discarded monster. "After I remove this from play: A D Changer!" He removed a light warrior, and to their amazement Ra was forced into a defending stance. "You made God cower?" A D Changer could switch the position of any monster on the field. "The sacrifices you used were good for offense, but their defense was lacking." Ra's points were lower than Obelisk in that regard. "Attack, God Hand Crusher!" The blue titan wound up another punch, and plunged it into the golden armor of the dragon. It roared in pain but could do nothing in return. "Im..possible." Light came from the cracks, and soon Ra was bursting all over. "Vanquish the sun!" The Winged Dragon of ra could no longer take it, and it exploded in a hail of radiance and gold metal. "... For you to destroy Ra, I should have expected that level of skill." Amon was not hurt himself, but he had lost his trump card. "Yet this is not close to the end, the phoenix will arise again." Raness placed one trap down and ended his turn. "The Phoenix?"

"This is why we are here Raness, here at Heliopolis; the city of the sun. Here the phoenix would come to place the ashes of its ancestor. After a cycle of a thousand years, a millennium, a phoenix dies and is reborn again. This city is a key link in the chain of eternal existence, an axis of immortality. And so too does the sun cycle around the world, forever and always. And soon so shall we, humanity will join the cycle of the phoenix. We will all become like Ra.." He activated the spell most appropriate for his story; Monster Reborn. "That card? He will revive it like this?" He chose to bring Ra back, the sun dragon returned from its ashes. However the new phoenix(0/0) was not as strong as its former self. "I did not sacrifice for it, so it could not gain strength." In this state the dragon would not be very dangerous to the Tormentor. "But Ra has more than one power. You have proven yourself worthy enough to hear the second chant.." Amon crossed his arms and recited even more hieratic text. "What the.." And his body burned away slowly.

Sentinel Amons LP: 1

"His lifepoints?" In fact he burned away all of his life and soul, which did not go far away. "Up there?" Amon was on top of the dragon fused to its golden body by flames. Only his left eye lingered at the dueling position, the representation of his last lifepoint. "Point to Point Transfer. When God is reborn, the summoner can exchange his own life to empower Ra." All LP had been converted for the dragon(7999/7999). "You would sacrifice your life like this?" With only 1 lifepoints left, even if he were to lose, the others could easily finish him off. "I sacrifice nothing, do not see as just another priest. Once this duel ends everything will be the same. The life goes into the sun, and I rule the sun.." He extended both hands to the solar sphere. "I can just replenish my life with one plunge. Like the Phoenix I shall resurrect!" In effect any duel that did not end his life right then and there was pointless. "In that case.." Raness flipped his trap. "Beckoning Light." He discarded all cards in his hand. "What?" And took back one monster. "This trap exchanges my hand for light monsters in the cemetery. And I choose Effect Veiler!" And he immediately discarded the light monster. "Effect Veiler will now negate your monsters effect!" A veil was thrown around Ra.

"No!" Its effects were taken away, as was its attackpower(0/0). "You got that monster back after all.." He unfused himself, becoming a whole human again. "And spells only last on god for one turn right?" Nero wondered if this meant that Ra would disappear again this turn. "Yes." He activated another spell from his hand. "My weakness will not remain either, Supremacy Berry." A bird flew by to drop a berry in Amons hand. "This magic restores my life if it is beneath my enemy." He ate it and regained 2000 Lifepoints. "A card is set. Then my turn ends." Ra indeed slipped back into the graveyard, Monster Reborn could no longer keep it alive. "Then I will attack directly!" The Pharaoh wasted no time and let Obelisk strike with its crushing hand. "Hmph." And while normally traps could not stop a god, his was not that type of card.

Sentinel Amons LP: 2001

"Call of the Haunted!" He had more then one method of resurrecting his dragon phoenix. "Oh no!" The god(0/0) became one the living a third time. "Then when it is special summoned, I can use its third and final power! The form of the Phoenix itself!" A third hieratic chant was spoken, as Ra covered itself with flames coming from its own mouth. "That explains his grand entrances.." The fire bird returned, Ra had taken its ultimate undying form. "In this form I can pay a millennium of lifeforce, and destroy one enemy on the opponents field. Even during his turn!" Obelisk's fist was absorbed by the overpowering fire. "Cremate the god of earth, send him back for good!" And then Ra counter-attacked, flying straight through the soldier god with its burning body. "No!" Obelisk had been claimed by death at last, unable to resist the call of the Phoenix. "Now then, my god returns to the dead once your turn ends. But your attack against me has failed." Raness was left speechless. _"I had no idea.. that Ra was this.. this strong."_.

Sentinel Amons LP: 1001

He placed a spell card and ended his turn, he had no monsters left. "..." Amon drew a card as well. "I set a monster and end my turn." It was not anything he could use to revive Ra, not this turn. "I guess even he has to obey the limits of cards." Monster Reborn was limited to one per deck. But if he found a way to add it back to his hand, then there would be a problem. "..." And he did have a way, his facedown monster was the Magician of Faith(300/400). If it were to be revealed, he could take back any spell card from his graveyard. Raness had to act quick to stop this.. and he could. "Now I activate my set spell card, Sage's Chalice!" A chalice poured water into the sandy soil. "I revive a monster from my opponents cemetery!" Amon flinched. "You wouldn't!" The water started to boil, as golden flames spewed up from it. "I special summon Ra!" The golden sphere emerged from the water and fire, in its spherical form. "But can you open it, can you wield it Raness?" Amon refused to believe this was happening. "You are about to find out."

Raness began to chant. "He knows the words?" He spoke just like Amon did, when he first summoned Ra. And just like before the sphere unfolded into the form of the golden god. "Amon, you were right. I died before I could master the summoning of the third god. I learned the texts, I studied the rituals, but time always seems to run out. Now.. I am ready." The sentinel faced his own deity, form his own grave. "I thank you.." Because it was revived just now, he could use the same effect. he chanted the second text and converted one thousand and one hundred lifepoints into those of Ra(1100/1100). "You.. learned so fast." Amon just watched as Raness normal summoned the Lightsworn Aurkus(1200/1800), who destroyed his Magician of Faith. But not even the spell she returned could help him now. "I again regret that we encountered each other like this. I will make sure your soul and those of the priests are salvaged in the aftermath of this all." The god charged its cannon. "Farewell, Pharaoh of the Sun." And a blast from Ra sent the sentinels life to nothingness. "Ghk.. without the phoenix.." He was consumed by the blazing inferno, puzzle and all. One last word reached Raness's ears. _"It is yours to use.. And you are his to serve.."_

Raness's LP: 5400 Sentinel Amons LP: 0

The god disappeared as well, but now the card was in his hand. "That went well all things considered." Cleo sighed. "Though in the end you had to give up some life." This could hurt his chances. "It should be fine. There is only one opponent left. We can combine all our lifeforce for that one last attack." Raness looked ahead, at the temple of the sun in the center of Heliopolis. "Yes we should say hello to Seneska." They stared at the sky, which was still as black as the night. "Looks almost as if we are going back to the first step. That can not be right... Either that or the illusions she set up are closing off." And there was something odd about the sun. "Wait what is.." A black tear ripped across the surface. "The gate is opening further?"

And at the suntemple itself, Seneska basking in the twisted light. **"Yes.. It is working.. the final step. The absolution of the sun itself!" **

(To be Continued in New Testament 119: The Golden Age)

**New Cards used by Pharaoh Raness  
**Necro Gardna  
Rai-Mei  
A D Changer

-  
Sage's Chalice

-  
Beckoning Light

**Cards used by Sentinel Amon  
**Mei-Kou, Master of Barriers  
Magician of Faith

-  
Monster Reborn  
Supremacy Berry

-  
Mind Crush  
Call of the Haunted


	119. The Golden Age

**New Testament 119: The Golden Age**

From the suntemple's balcony, Seneska looked up at a spectacle most would find terrifying, the sun itself started to crack as if it were made of glass. "Senes!" But her attention turned elsewhere as other members of the audience closed in on her. "This has to end now, Senes!" Raness lead the charge, the five remaining duelists headed into Heliopolis. _**"Are you still calling me by my human name, brother? How very like you.." **_Her voice reached out to them mentally. _**"But what makes you say such overconfident words? Why would I stop now, when Rubedo is almost upon us?" **_A cackle echoed through their minds. "Well if you wont listen, we will just to get violent." Cleo shouted, already having foreseen such an outcome. "You are all out of priests, sentinels and pillars. Now its just you and us.." Nero added loudly, determined to stop her once and for all. "Do not try to justify yourself now. We are through with words!" William did not want to waste time anymore. "This for the sake of Jackson.. and everyone else!"

**"Justify myself? Why would I pursue such a needless end?" **They were close enough to the temple to hear her actual voice. **"I try and try again, but you never listen. I know how futile that endeavour is, I can see it in your hearts and minds. But.." **They stopped in front of the gate. **"Even when it is not your desire to do so, your actions suit my design perfectly." **She smirked. "What? What are you talking about?" Raness clenched his fist. **"The shadows.. and the items, brother." **She pointed down, apparently at the Puzzle around his neck. **"Thanks to you, all seven items are in one place. The priests of our millennium have been vanquished by your hands. The Eye is mine, the six are yours." **Through the sequence of the duels, Nero had taken the Millennium Rod from Ankhaten, Cable received the Scales, William won the Tauk remnant from Almagest, and Cleo won the Ring from Zevgar/Metru while at the same time taking over the Key that Christine could no longer keep. "It was all.. for that end?" Cable gasped.

**"Yes. When the priests died, they buried the items with them and went on to govern the afterlife as sentinels. Part of the items stayed with them, until this day. I could not make them forfeit the items to me, because the items do not follow the exchanges of a tampered mind." **Because she had brainwashed all six, it was impossible adhere to that rule. "And now all you need is to erase us. Then all items will belong to you. All the darkness of the world will be yours." To Carter it sounded like she did not want to be 'perfect' like the rest of the world, not at all. **"Nonsense. The darkness will be purged. But I can not do so while you hold them. It was for this reason that I allowed Jacksons shadow to escape. Cleo Caine still remembered the name of my brother, her soul was not ready for the golden light yet." **She glared at Jane Doe who stayed behind at the edge of the sun city. "Yeah thanks for that." Cleo said sarcastically. "And all this time I am just wondering what makes these items so 'full of darkness', when you yourself said they were made with the same magic that created that gate of yours." Seneska's eye narrowed. **"The items share a history with blood and death, Cleo Caine. That is all you need to know."**

More black cracks appeared in the surface of the solar sphere, whose flames attained the brightest and purest form of red. **"Nigredo to decompose all hells, Albedo to purify the mortal coil, Citrinitas to enlighten paradise, this has all lead to the final step of my Magnum Opus; Rubedo, the unification of all life and matter. The gate of Alkahest has fed from the shadows of death, the sins of man and the life-giving rays of the sun itself. It has absorbed enough to give us one last gift." **Strange transparent liquid started to seep from the cracks. "What is that?" It dripped down onto the desert, and actually ate it away as if it were highly concentrated acid. **"Alkahest's theorized universal solution.. The element that existed before all elements.." **More poured down, forming puddles at the base of the desert. "Nothing.." It was like they were staring at an ocean whose perfectly smooth surface reflected nothing. Its color was red, yet the water itself did not give it that taint. **"Take it Azoth!"**

An entity behind her jumped to life, breaking out of its crystal prison. "Azoth?" It was the elemental banisher, the spirit that had helped Seneska in every duel of hers. "Stop it!" It flew straight towards the red pool. "How?" And it ignored the duelists as it dove straight into the water. "Why would it do that?" But instead of being dissolved like the rest of the world around them, it could move all the way down and stand at the bottom. "Azoth.. the spirit she used so many years ago." Raness saw it again, for the first in millennia. **"Yes brother. Azoth was the first spirit I summoned behind the backs of your followers. It was my connection to the legacy of Alkahest. After three thousand years it reunites with the power that was left sealed beyond the gate." **Bubbles started forming at the surface. "Left, by who?" Cable asked. "Alkahest himself." Raness replied. "What? You mean that she is doing what that guy himself was afraid to do?" Nero could not believe this. **"Alkahest was a genius, but limited by his time."**

**"He realized the existence of the perfect universe, a world from before time and space. But he lacked the tools he needed to find it, and the will to make those tools, the gate. In the end he spent so much of his years developing the design, that he was already too old to see it all planned out." **In her left hand a book suddenly appeared, the Tome that Zevgar had told them about. **"He burned the pages detailing the universal solution, his grand design and the gate he feared to make. But I knew something was hidden.. So.." **She dropped the book. **".. I summoned his soul." **Raness flinched. "You what? You can't have!" Never before had he heard this; a secret Seneska had taken to the grave three thousand years ago. **"Yes I did. His mind was easy to lure out amongst the masses of souls. And once I found him.. I bound him to my own Ka, so that our knowledge and memories became one. That is how I 'summoned' Azoth. But I remained the master.. and he..." **

Azoth emerged from the water, his body now as transparent as glass, his colors flat and lifeless. The armor on the other hand had only grown, from head to toe he was covered with crystal. "Him?" Alkahest and Azoth were one and the same. "You turned the soul of the first mage, into your own slave?" It had never been about reviving Alkahest, she had already done that ages ago. **"Only his shadow, his regret and guilt.. his sins. That was all I could find. And it nurtured my own Ka well." **Azoth stepped on the still melting sand, standing on nothingness. "And now what will happen?" This guy was apparently the catalyst for the Rubedo stage. **"What I will tell you wont change your mindset. Once it has absorbed enough matter and energy from the perfect world, Azoth will be guide all humanity. His presence alone will draw them in, and then.." **Azoth extended its hand. "Life will be one. Life will be all." And it spoke. Its voice sounded as indifferent as one could possibly imagine. "Oh great, now it speeches too.."

**"Interesting"** Even Seneska looked surprised at this turn of events.** "Enough consciousness was restored just by touching the thing he always searched for. You could say he found his 'philosopher's stone'" **The duelists all activated their disks. "Well we will not let your precious solution get away with this. He will have to go through us first." Seneska's only response was to laugh. **"I look forward to your last struggle then. Azoths power is already beyond the spirits of any mortal Ka. He was the one who aided me in taking down even Amon. And it has just begun to evolve." **The crystal entity conjured up cards and placed it on a transparent extension of its arm. "A duel will be just what I require, to finish what Lord Seneska started." Raness stepped up. "You will be destroyed before that happens!" But William stopped him. "Pharaoh, let us handle this one. You need to save your energy for you-know-who." The Pharaoh stared at his sister and back at the monster she had created. "You wish to duel him?"

"Not just me. We will all take him on." Nero and Cleo joined Carters side. "If you do so, then my Ba will be raised to counter your full potential." He already saw three opponents, so his LP appeared to go up all the way to 24000. "That is just wrong." The goth snapped, but she was ignored. "Tsk. If he can do that, we can do it too. We should unite our LP." Cleo had 4050 points worth of life energy, Carter had 5200, Cable had 4500 and Nero only had 1300. "Cable. You should stay behind. Just in case the worst happens." Nero was not entirely confident. "But I can still give you what I have, while leaving some for myself." Cable sent 4450 of his points to Nero. "Are you sure?" His was at a reasonable number now. "Yes. I was never a priest of Raness anyway." He grinned. "If I could have, I would have chosen you, Cable Fraser." Raness did not want him to feel that way. "It's okay. The last thing you guys need is 32000 LP to take down. I will stay back and watch over Jane.." He walked to the sidelines. "Okay then. The three of us, against mr. exmage."

Azoths LP: 24000 Team Duelist's LP: 15000

"This will do. And the first turn is mine." Azoth moved one card from his 'hand' to the field, placing it facedown. Three more cards were placed behind it, a triad of traps. "Okay. I will go first then!" William drew, yet already one of the three traps was used. "I activate DNA Checkup." The trap hovered over his facedown. "What? We have to guess what element his facedown is, to draw cards?" Otherwise Azoth could draw. "It must be light." Nero thought he would be just like his master. "We can all guess, so I will say dark." Cleo felt he would be more of an evil type. "Fire?" William remembered his connection to the sun. "All.. incorrect." Yet he revealed his hidden monster, a spellcaster that had no attribute at all. "The hell?" They had never seen anything like it. "This is my power, banishing all elements even from my own deck." Now the crystal one could draw two cards, since none of them guessed correctly. "It was a trick, we could never have figured that out." Grumbling Carter placed one monster facedown and one trap card. "Nero, your move."

"Banishing of elements huh. Its a good thing, that I can control so many!" He activated the spell card Elemental Six. "I discard six elementals from my deck." E-hero Flash(Light), Necroshade(Dark), Bladedge(Earth), Ice Edge(Water), Burstinatrix(Fire) and Avian(Wind) were sent to the cemetery. "Then I remove this spell to add one of those six to my hand." Elemental Six gave him Flash. "Next I play Future Fusion, sending the five materials needed for Divine Neos to the cemetery!" He discarded 2 Neo-Spacians, E-Hero Neos, Voltic and Bubbleman. "Finally I use Miracle Fusion!" He fused the light elemental Voltic with the Elemental Hero Bubbleman to create Elemental Hero - The Shining(2600/2100). "I then set a trap card and a monster card, and end my turn." His turn had certainly set up a lot of future plans. "Tsk, whatever happened to ladies first Nero?" Cleo had to take the third and last turn. "I set a monster card and end my turn." She could not even do half as much. "I thought you never cared about sayings like that." William smiled. "Whatever.."

_The Elemental Six, Normal Spell  
__Send 6 monster cards with a different attribute from your deck to the graveyard.  
__If this card is in your graveyard, by removing it from play, you can add one of the discarded cards to your hand._

"My turn. Reveal the hidden Joy.. The joy that all souls of innocense start out with." Azoth flipped the nonelemental monster, a faceless witch(500/1700) encased in a colorless gemstone. "Clear Joy Witch. She will reveal all other hidden spirits." The duelists monsters were flipped face-up: Chaos End Master(1500/1000), E-Hero Flash(1100/1600) and Double Coston(1700/1650). "For each element revealed, I draw." The two attributes were Dark and Light, so he drew twice again. "He likes his draw power." Cable noticed. "Then.. a sacrifice summon. Once the joyful step into the new world, fear sets in. Fear of the unknown and unfamiliar.." The witch was tributed, leaving the crystal to make room for a demonic knight(2300/1100). "End of the Clean. Its power reflects that of its target." The knight slashed his way out of the stone, pointing its bladed hand at The Shining so that it could steal its attackpoints (Dread Knight: 4900/1100). "The End.." It launched an attack. "Compensation for Heroics!" But Nero flipped his trap. "I end the battle phase!"

_Clear Joy Witch, 3/500/1700 ?/Spellcaster  
__During the standby phase you can flip all face-down monsters face-up, then draw 1 card for each monster with a different attribute.._

_Clear Dread Knight, 7/2300/1100 ?/Warrior  
__If your opponent controls a monster, you can normal summon this card with 1 tribute.  
Once per turn, if you control no other monsters, you can have this card gain ATK equal to the highest original ATK of a face-up monster your opponent controls, until the end phase._

The Knight was stopped. But now Azoth could draw once as a result of the trap. "Turn end.." It had still been a close call, but now Dread Knight(2300/1100) powered down. "Clear monsters have no color or element. But they can be killed just like anything else." But Azoth was not done yet. "Clear World." He played a field spell, one that placed a large hovering crystal over Heliopolis. "What is this now?" Suddenly the hands of Nero and Carter became as clear as glass, Azoth could look right into them. "Clear World, affects a player depending on what attribute they use. Wielder of Light, will let the light shine through their cards. Wielders of the dark can not see through the dark mist if they control too much spirits." And Clear World had other detrimental effects for Wind, Water, Fire and Earth users. "I see. You are the only one to benefit from this field spell, your monsters have no element." Azoth nodded. "Yes, your elements... your feelings. They will destroy you."

(To be Continued in New Testament 120: A Jail called Emotions)

**New Card used by Nero Jacobus  
**_The Elemental Six_

**Cards used by Azoth  
**_Clear Joy Witch  
__Clear Dread Knight(+)_

-  
Clear World

-  
DNA Checkup

_(+)Based on the card used by Yusuke Fujiwara in YGO GX Season 4, albeit with the name altered._


	120. A Jail called Emotions

**New Testament 120: A Jail called Emotions**

_**"The Clear World, the world I fight for. It is the color of all colors in one, the color before time and space, before the universe fragmented into the elements that are slowly destroying themselves. Now you face it, children, and the power of Azoth. Your elements.. your feelings.. will destroy you" **_Thought Seneska, who was watching the duel from her balcony. She was certain that no man alive or dead could challenge the element of nothingness, personified by the Clear spirits.

Azoths LP: 24000 Team Duelists LP: 15000

"Mist Archfiend!" Carter normal summoned the level 5 demon, using its special effect. "I combine it with the level 3 Chaos Master, to synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend!" The angel and demon became one, became the fiendish dragon(3000/2500). "Then I activate Polymerization!" He combined two Cyber Dragons in his hand, fusing them into Cyber Twin Dragon(2800/2100). "Cyber Twin can attack twice, and it will!" He planned to hit Azoth hard. "Take this, a triple strike!" The two mechanical heads of the dragon fired off their light bursts, yet before either could get close, they veered off course. "Hey!" And destroyed both Elemental Hero Flash and The Shining, who had the same attribute. "Gah. He used a trap!" Azoth had used a permanent trap to redirect the attack. "Your elements are harmless to me. Trap card: Attribute Gravity." All monsters of the same element were forced to attack each other. "No, Red Dragon don't!" That also included his synchro monster who was drawn towards Cleo's dark Double Coston.

_Attribute Gravity, Continuous Trap  
__During the battle phase any attack position monsters on the field must attack, and must only battle with monsters that share their attribute(s) where possible._

Nero technically benefitted from the deaths of his monsters. When Flash died, he could remove three E-Heroes(Heat, Bladedge, Necroshade) in his grave and add a spell (Miracle Fusion) back to his hand. And when The Shining died, he could take back two E-Heroes(Voltic, Bubbleman) that were removed from play. "At least all our monsters were defending." He placed a spell and ended his turn. "Still.. First Clear World, and now this. His spells and traps have to be destroyed!" Nero drew and activated a spell. "Miracle Contact! I contact fuse Aqua Dolphin, Hummingbird and E-Hero Neos!" He sent the three monsters from his grave to the deck, monsters he discarded earlier with Future Fusion. "Come out Storm Neos!" He summoned the water/wind fusion(3000/2500), because it had the effect to destroy all spells and traps. "Trap card: Seal of Monochramy." However a green flash momentarily blinded Nero. "Every turn one element will be sealed. This turn is wind." When he could see again, the text on his fusion card was literally erased

_Seal of Monochramy, Continuous Trap  
__Once during the opponents turn you can declare 1 attribute.  
__Any face-up monster cards of the selected attribute have their effects negated and can not activate their effects until their controllers next standby phase._

"Fine. At least now it wont return to the extra deck during the endphase." Cleo tried to cheer him up. "Yes, but when it did, I could at least send all his cards back to his deck. Now I will have to rely on brute force." At least for this turn. "I summon Elemental hero Voltic!" A Sparkman-like warrior(1000/1500) was summoned, as a bolt from the sky. "When he inflicts battle damage, a removed Hero will return." He looked at Carter, who smiled. "I gotcha." He used his facedown spell card, Cybernetic Zone to remove Cyber Twin Dragon for one turn. Now the light-elemental Voltic could attack without concerns. "First attack!" Storm Neos cut down Clear Dread Knight(2300/1100) at last. "Direct attack!" Voltic shocked the crystal enemy, and the static left behind was enough to resurrect Elemental Hero Heat(2200/1200), who had gained 200 attack for each E-Hero on the field. "And again!" It struck Azoth with flames. "Your move, Cleo. He is wide open!" The goth nodded and started her turn. "Hey!" When suddenly Nero was burned by the fire as well.

Azoths LP: 20100 Team Duelists LP: 14000

**"The penalty of Fire, Nero Sullivan."** Seneska cackled in the background. "Clear World did it?" She realized fire users would lose 1000 LP every time they ended their turn. "No element is spared." Cleo cringed. "Guys I am taking some offerings.." She sacrificed Cyber Twin Dragon(5200/2200), who had returned as a stronger machine from the other zone but would die soon anyway. She also used Heat and Voltic. "Three tributes are needed, to summon this devil. The Wicked Avatar!" A black sphere was summoned. "It copies the strongest monster on the field!" The Avatar imitated the shape of Red Dragon Archfiend, gaining its attack plus 100 (Avatar: 3100/0) "You can not activate trap or spell cards either!" She smirked. Though this did not include continuous effects. While the Monochramy card was negated, the Gravity was not. "Meh..I still can't attack.. End turn." She did not want to take out the last monster William had right now. "Not because I am affraid or anything. This is just common sense." She insisted.

"Clear Sorrow Phantom." This time the crystal was haunted by a skeletal ghost(1200/0). "Once one conquers fear, they have to accept the situation they are in. And they grieve for what is lost, but they can never take back the past." The ghost flew out of the gem into the Wicked Avatar. "A suicidal attack?" Yet while Azoth clearly lost lifepoints from that battle exchange, some spectral energy remained. "The Sorrow Phantom banishes itself in death, to pass its grief on to another." The black sphere was blown up from the inside out. At the same time she had to discard 3 cards (Mezuki, Plague Wolf, Pyramid Turtle) from her deck. "Of course he had monsters with effects left." Cleo moaned. Because of their nonelemental nature, Clear spirits were not affected by Attribute Gravity. "Activate the Clear Wall, and set a card." He moved a wall of diamonds in front of him, hiding a trap behind it. _"Clears can not be destroyed in battle.. that spell says. And damage below a thousand is absorbed. A good spell, but he has no clear monsters?"_

Azoths LP: 18200

_Clear Sorrow Phantom, 3/1200/0 ?/Fiend  
When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, remove it from play to destroy one monster on the field, then send the top 3 cards from your opponent's deck to the graveyard._

_Clear Wall, Continuous Spell  
__If 'Clear World' is not face-up on the field, destroy this card. While this card is face-up on the field, attack position 'Clear' monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle.  
You take no damage from a battle involving a 'Clear' monster if it is less than 1000. If you would take 1000 or more damage during the battle phase, destroy this card instead. _

_"I must attack." _Red Dragon Archfiend was the only dark monster left, he would be safe from the traps. "I attack!" It sent its hellish flames at Azoth. "Nihilistic Summoning Technique." Only for it to stop him by reviving Clear Sorrow Phantom(0/0) with a continuous trap. "Now It makes sense." Clear Wall kept the defending Phantom alive, and it was summoned in defense mode as well. "But Red Dragon should destroy defending monsters automatically!" He protested anyway. Until he found out the text on his synchro card was erased as well. The Seal had targeted dark monsters this turn. **"Your anger will lead you nowhere, William Carter. The truth wont bend to the rage of one man." **Said the Magus. "Shut up. You are not dueling here!" Cleo snapped back at her. "It's okay, Cleo." Will placed one monster facedown and ended his turn. "I am not letting her get to me." He looked back and saw Seneska still gazing at him with the Millennium Eye. "Even if she can read my mind, she can not influence how Azoth duels"

_Nihilistic Summoning Technique, Continuous Trap  
__Special summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your removed from play zone.  
__This card becomes an equipment spell card and is equipped to the summoned monster. As long as this card is equipped to the summoned monster its ATK becomes 0. _

"My turn!" Before he could even finished his draw phase, The Seal of Monochramy had targeted wind monsters a second time. "Of course. You want to keep your world save, dont you?" Storm Neos would never get off its effect at this rate. "But so do I!" But two standby phases had passed since the activation of Future Fusion, now he could bring out what he chose to fuse. "Divine Neos!" The godlike warrior(2500/2500) bathed the city in divine light. "Clear Wall prevents your spirit from dying as long as you do not take too much damage. But my god knows a way around that. It can integrate any hero or spacians effect!" He removed E-Hero Ice Edge from play. "Now Divine Neos can attack you instead of your monsters, at the cost of one card in my hand!" He re-discarded Bubbleman, giving himself a powerful direct attacker(3000/2500). "And I am not done fusing yet. I have this." He also reused the Miracle Fusion Flash had given him. Though at this point he noticed Wind users had to pay a cost as well, when Clear World was on the field.

Team Duelists LP: 13500

"I have to pay 500 LP to activate any spell? Very well." He fused Bubbleman and The Shining in his graveyard. "One water-elemental, one hero.. I summon E-Hero Absolute Zero." The knight of ice(2500/2000), arrived on a path of frozen water. "I may not know much about gods, or this world that you are trying to open. But I do know this: this is not the way we were intended to meet god. This is not the way of life." Divine Neos fired a beam of holy energy straight at Azoth, whose crystal armor was cracked by the impact. "Ggh." Clear Wall shattered as a result of it, the damage being two thousands above what it could absorb. "Now!" Not wanting to lose Absolute Zero yet, he sent it to kill the Sorrow Phantom. Of course instead the wraith possessed the body of Storm Neos and destroyed it permanently, denying him another attack. "I set all the cards in my hand face-down." Three traps were set. _"Clear World showed him what cards were in my hand, but he has to trigger them eventually."_ He had to wait for the right time. Cleo's turn was next.

Azoths LP: 15200

"I set a monster card, a trap card. And I remove Mezuki from play to call one of the undead back to my field." With its effect, Mezuki resurrected Double Coston(1700/1650). The horsehead zombie was discarded earlier thanks to the Phantom. "End turn." Now they could look forward to another turn of the non-elemental. "So what is next? You already mocked our joy, fear and sadness." There were a lot more emotions it could take on. "Sometimes there is more to the soul than instincts, than causes. The consequences must be dealt with as well." He activated a spell, Clear Sacrifice. "Now I will show you the consequences of emotions, depraved habits and sins." His spell allowed him to sacrifice Clear monsters (Joy Witch & Dread Knight) in the cemetery in order to tribute summon a highlevel Clear card. "Clear Vice Dragon." He called out a seventh level dragon(0/0). "This spirit gains strength from the elemental power of its targets. It will send the pain of its targets emotions back at them." Vice dragon locked eyes with the demonic one, its attack becoming double that of the Archfiend (Clear vice Dragon: 6000/0). "Clean Malicious Stream." A colorless blast washed over the synchro, melting it down. "Vices are a mistake of the human mind."

Team Duelists LP: 10500

_Clear Sacrifice, Normal Spell  
__Select and reveal 1 level 5 or higher 'Clear' monster in your hand. You may normal summon that monster without tributing this turn.  
__Then remove from play 'Clear' monsters in your graveyard equal to the number of monsters needed to tribute summon the selected monster._

"Human emotions do not just lead to that you know! There are good things as well; love, friendship, compassion." Cable had heard enough, he wanted to speak up. **"And those feelings will not perish in my perfect world, Cable Fraser. But they suffer because of feelings like anger, fear and arrogance. Humanity will never be rid of vices, will never be truly happy." **Seneska was not that easy to convince. "If everyone would be happy all the time, all meaning will be lost!" Yet he continued to talk to her. **"Happiness can not be born from darkness, you need me!" **She started to sound annoyed. "Then what about Jane?" He pointed at the girl born from a literal dark god. "She had shown positive emotions, despite her past! Humanity can not be as damned as you say they are, if even she can experience.." **"Enough!"**Seneska raised her hand. **"You are not one who is chosen by my brother. Stay silent and let the duel continue." **Raness glared at her, but Fraser accepted it. _"We will prove you wrong."_

William proceeded to his turn. "Nero I have a plan, but I will need your Ice hero." He summoned the machine, Cyber Valley(0/0). "Okay." Azoth meanwhile tried to reactive his Sealing trap, to erase the text on all Light monsters. "But I can give you more assistance! I activate my counter trap: Paradox Fusion." He had been waiting for Azoth to use his trap again. "I send one fusion monster on the field to another dimension for two turns!" Divine Neos was banished, disconnected from Future Fusion, because William apparently required Absolute Zero. "To negate an effect!" He countered the Monochramy trap, destroying it at last. "Thanks Nero. Now I can use whatever effect I want!" He used Cyber Valley's effect of removal, removing it and another monster he controlled from play to draw two new cards. "And now I have what I need.."

"I activate the spell; Dimension Explosion!" By returning one fused monster on the field to the extra deck, every player could take back two monsters that were removed from play. "Alright!" Cleo had but one removed monster, Mezuki(1700/800). Nero had many choices and picked E-Hero Avian(1000/1000) along with E-Hero Bladedge(2600/1800). Carter brought back the two cards he removed this very turn, Cyber Valley and the now face-up Trust Guardian(0/800). Meanwhile Azoth could bring back Clear Sorrow Phantom and Clear Dread Knight. But not before Absolute Zero's effect was used. "That is why.." When Zero was removed from the field, he would take down the enemy's monsters with it. And at the time of its retreat, Vice Dragon was the available target. "Freeze it to death!" The exploded hero sent out waves of ice to encase the crystal Dragon. **"That will not work." **Yet Vice Dragon broke out without a scratch. "Huh?" And Azoth discarded a card from his hand. "That one can save itself by discarding a card? What a persistent creature.."

"Again. Raw force will have to do." He activated the spell, Between the Dawn and Dusk, to turn Cyber Valley into a dark monster. "I will need your monster too now, Cleo." He referred to her Double Coston. "Go ahead." She could guess what he wanted to do with it. "Okay, here goes. Synchro summon!" He tuned the level 3 Trust Guardian with the level 1 Valley and level 4 Double Coston. "Light tuner and dark non tuners! Become the Goddess of Chaos!" His extra deck gave him a white-haired woman in a black dress(2500/1800), having both angel and demon wings. "Once per turn I can discard a light monster to revive a highevel dark monster!" He discarded Cyber Eltanin to revive the Red Dragon Archfiend. "Its payback time." There were no other dark monsters on the field, he had a clear shot at Vice Dragon. "Attack, Draco Meteor!" The demon summoned a hail of meteors. "Wait, look out William!" Yet the meteors headed his way. "!" He saw how his Goddess was suddenly a dark-type.. because of a trap called Attribute Chameleon. "No!"

_Attribute Chameleon. Continuous Trap  
__Once during your opponent's turn, you can select 1 of your opponent's monsters and declare 1 attribute.  
The selected monster's attribute becomes the declared attribute until the end phase of the turn this card was activated._

(To be Continued in New Testament 121: Certain is Nothing)

**New Card used by Nero Jacobus  
**Elemental Hero Voltic  
Elemental Hero Heat

-  
Paradox Fusion

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Mist Archfiend  
Chaos Goddess

**New Cards used by Azoth  
**_Clear Sorrow Phantom(+)  
_Clear Vice Dragon (++)

_-  
Clear Wall(+)  
__Clear Sacrifice(+)_

_-  
Attribute Gravity(+)  
__Seal of Monochramy  
__Nihilistic Summoning Technique(+)  
__  
(+)Based on the cards used by Yusuke Fujiwara in YGO GX Season 4, albeit with some names altered.  
__(++) This card already exists in the OCG, but here its attribute is erased, rather than it being immune to 'Clear World'._


	121. Certain is Nothing

**New Testament 121: Certain is Nothing**

"Attribute Chameleon? So if you can not abuse the elements we already use, you are going to give us new ones?" Because of Azoths latest trap, Chaos Goddess had been turned into a dark-type, and now Red Dragon Archfiend had to attack it. "But because Chaos Goddess was Synchro summoned with Trust Guardian as the tuner. It can survive the battle phase by lowering her attack!" The black/white goddess(2100/1800) deflected the meteors. "Plus she was summoned in defense mode, so we don't lose lifeforce!" If she had attacked, she would have been forced to attack Nero's Divine warrior. "Nero, your move!"

Azoths LP: 15200 Team Duelists LP: 10500

Three monsters were on Azoths field, and all three were a pain. "First I have to get rid of that dragon." Nero controlled E-Hero Bladedge(2600/1800) and Avian(1000/1000), though he soon discovered how Clear World made earth elementals suffer. "Every standby phase, if an earth-monster is on my field, a defender will die." Bladedge was earth, so Nero was forced to kill off the Avian. "Bladedge cant attack.." If he tried, the Gravity would draw him towards Mezuki. "But there is one Elemental that can withstand any trap, I summon Wildheart!" The wild jungle man(1500/1600) appeared, the warrior immune to curses. "It can ignore the gravity, and its element can not be changed by the chameleon!" Wildheart was already running towards Clear vice Dragon(0/0). "Take it down!" With one punch the dragon was destroyed. It could not increase its attack during the opponents battle phases after all. "Then during my endphase, Divine Neos returns!" Paradox Fusion's effects on it ended, and the Divine Hero(2500/2500) was freed from its dimensional prison. However even now the enemy used Attribute Chameleon, changing the attribute of Bladedge into the fire element. "Tsk." So that Nero would be burned for another 1000 LP due to Clear World. "One more turn.."

Azoths LP: 13700 Team Duelists LP: 9500

"Nicely done, Nero. Now its my time to shine!" Mezuki(1700/800) was also an earth-type. However she had no face-up defense monsters that it could destroy. "I flip summon Skull Knight 2." A skeleton soldier was revealed(1000/1200). "Then I normal the Invasion of Flames." Along with a flaming skull(1300/1200). "Earth, fire and darkness. There is no way your trap can change that many elements in one turn. So here I come!" She was about to attack. However she could not follow through. "Huh?" Attribute Chameleon had changed Mezuki into a dark-elemental. "Clear World!" And any duelist controlling two or more darkness creatures could not attack as long as Clear World was on the field. "Damn it." But she was not done yet. "I activate Skull Lair!" Undead energy emanated from her trap card. "I remove three monsters in my cemetery, to destroy a monster whose level is just as high." The ghosts of Wicked Avatar, Double Coston and Pyramid Turtle erupted from the ground to drag the level 3 Clear Sorrow Phantom(1200/0) down into an early grave. "This way your phantom can not use its effect of destroying monsters on the field!" She then placed another trap down and ended her turn. But again they lost LP because Clear World did not ignore the Invader.

Team Duelists LP: 8500

"When man does not accept their mistakes, when man can not conquer grief with their own soul, they seek out others. They project their anger on their companions.." Azoth opened with another speech of his, and summoned a rocklike creature(1600/1800). "Clear Rage Golem." The he switched Clear Dread Knight(2300/1100) to attack mode. "That card again." Neither duelist could have gotten rid of that in time, and now it again used its effect to steal the attackpoints of its target. "The Knight strikes the God, the Golem strikes the Wild of Heart." Rage Golem managed to kill Wildheart rather easily, draining some energy to restore its masters LP. But the Knight of Fear(4800/1100) and all its attackboosts, would have to wait. "Scrapiron Scarecrow!" Cleo used her trap to stop it. "Once per turn I can negate an attack!" The scarecrow deflected the knight's sword, and was reset on the field. "I have seen enough of dread, thanks. And besides, fear is a healthy emotion." Cleo had seen enough horror movies in her lifetime to see it that way.

Azoths LP: 14000 Team Duelists LP: 8400

_Clear Rage Golem, 4/1600/1800 ?/Rock  
When this card attacks your opponent directly, inflict damage equal to 300x the number of cards in their hand.  
__When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, gain lifepoints equal to 300x the number of cards in your hand._

**"Yes it is fear that keeps you desiring for the state of the old, it is anger that causes you to refuse the state of the new, sadness that makes you feel the need to fight for those who are already convinced." **Seneska spoke, suddenly appearing at the edge of the sun city. "Senes.." Raness flinched. **"Our time has not come yet, Raness." She looked away from him and at the duelists. "You just can not understand, your emotions are an unfortunate consequence of their own, a needed adaptation to the world around you. The world I am opening has no such need; there is nothing there to fear, to hate. Nothing to concern yourself over." **At this point William started his turn, but glared at the Magus after drawing his card. "Why would your world be better? The more I listen the more I am starting to think that gate is not a step in evolution towards perfection, but a step backwards before evolution even existed!" He switched his monsters to defense mode. **"It is a step no soul can take on its own, they need my guidance. This 'evolution' of yours has already taken the wrong path, towards selfdestruction. The last three millennia have done nothing to change my opinion."**

"Attribute Chameleon." But while they talked the duel moved on. Azoth used his trap to change Chaos Goddess into a water-type. "The water effect?" Now they discovered the cost of Clear World for water users. "I have to discard a card every endphase." William had to throw Diabolos the Dark Dragon away. "I have to break this hold he has over us." And during Nero's standby phase, Bladedge destroyed itself due to Clear World, but his other Hero was still alive. "It will cost you your trap, Cleo." Scrapiron Scarecrow would be destroyed by his next move. "If it ends this attribute madness, do it!" She shouted. "Okay! Divine Neos copies the effect of Elemental Hero Storm Neos!" The godlike warrior surrounded himself(3000/2500) with wind energy. "Once I can destroy all spells and traps!" The gale forces cut down the Scarecrow and the now disconnected Future Fusion, but also Attribute Gravity/Chameleon and Clear World. "And then the Dread Knight!" Divine Neos added holy energy to the storm to slay the Clear Knight(2300/1100).

Azoths LP: 13300

"Finally..." Cleo started her turn. "No more of this Gravity nonsense!" She tributed all three of her monsters, Skull Knight, Mezuki and Invasion of Flames, to bring out the third of the Wicked trio. "I will show you how strong fear can be, meet the Wicked Dreadroot!" A demonic impression of Obelisk(4000/4000) was tribute summoned, the devil of the earth. "The field is dominated by fear; its effect halves the attack and defense points of all other monsters on the field." This included the Clear Rage Golem(800/900). "Furthermore since Skull Knight 2 was tributed for a fiend, one more comes from my deck." Another Skull Knight(500/600) appeared in defense mode. "Dreadroot! Attack his Golem!" With one punch the wicked devil shattered the golem and the crystal that held it, Azoths field was empty now. "Finally I activate Ectoplasmer. Each endphase a player can sacrifice a monster to damage their enemy by half their attackpoints!" She tributed Dreadroot, shooting its ectoplasmic energy(2000 dmg) at Azoth. "That looks more like it. Now we are leading!" Their lifepoints were higher by 300, impressive considering what Azoth started out with. "How's about you start fearing for once..It will do you good!" She ended her turn.

Azoths LP: 8100

**'This has gone on long enough.." **But now Seneska began to sound annoyed. "What are you doing?" Raness still did not like her being this close to the actual duel, and now his Millennium Puzzle started glowing. **"I am going to give my Ka ally the power it needs to use its next spell, Raness. No cheats, just the natural way of things." **She extended her hand and hit Azoth with a colorless blast of energy. The crystal knight seemed largely unphased by this move, nothing changed... at first. "What.. did.. you.. do?" What did change was the pool of red water that the enemy was standing in, as the crimson colors shrivelled up as if they were simple blood particles. "Closer.." And Azoth drew his next card, a spell that allowed everyone to feel a simple yet threatening aura, a sense of nothingness. "Spell card; The Nothing." Azoth placed it on the field, a spell that replaced the crystals with a pale white fog. "What does it do?" They tried to see through the fog, but it was hard to see anything at all. And the card itself did not help..

_The Nothing, Field Spell_

_..._

"I do not get it." What it did, was unknown to them. **"Of course you can not understand. It is beyond your comprehension. Even Jackson Doe, touched by an angel, or Jane Doe, created by a god, can not begin to see what truly stands before them. This magic is Azoth's power in a permanent state, a shred of the perfect world that awaits you all. You who still possess shadows and hearts, you can not see more than a basic white void." **That much was true. "I bet you cant see more either." Cleo hissed. **"That does not matter. I at least am ready for it." **Azoth himself also started to change, hiis entire body lost color, lost texture and shadowing. It was like he slowly drifted from this world, getting more in touch with the nothingness he had summoned. "Set trap card, end turn."

"I do not know what is going on here. But I have to test it out." Carter switched the Chaos Goddess to attack mode. "Direct attack!" She casted a bolt of black magic and a bolt of white magic at the void before her. They vanished within the fog, but Azoth was not hit at all. "Uh oh.." Then suddenly the blasts came right back. "!" One destroyed the dark/light synchro, the other hit William directly. "Gah!" he was knocked down and the team lost 2100 lifepoints. "Carter! What did he.." No trap had been activated, no effect in the graveyard. The nothingness had done this. "Elemental banishment." Cable remembered now, that was the power of Seneska's Ka. Now that she had given it its own life and body, it could use this power to an even greater extent. "Ggh, we cant use elements at all anymore?" The Nothing would just throw everything back.

Team Duelists LP: 6300

**"Fire, wind, water, earth, darkness and light, none of them have meaning in my new world." **Seneska laughed. **"Azosth's power is beyond banishing now, it punishes those that try to use it against him. Nothing short of divinity can help you know. But then none of you can control a god."** Raness could not stand around anymore. "My friends, I should take this one on, let me help you while I still can!" He alone seemingly stood a chance against the enemy. **"It is too late for that now, Raness. This time you can not sacrifice yourself to save our priests." **The duel had already started, if they quit now their life would be erased. **"Just let them accept it, let them forget their connection to the shadows and the spirits, the heart and soul. Then they can join the fallen." **Raness could only help, if everyone around him was already gone. "Pharaoh. It is okay. You do not need to deal with this guy" Yet Nero still seemed optimistic. "I have a plan." He smirked. "You do?" Cleo blinked.

"Yes. But it depends on one thing, William." He looked at his friend. "First I am going to need your synchro." So William could not use it with Ectoplasmer at the end of his turn. "Do you have anything that can fuse monsters right now?" Carter nodded. "Then activate it." He complied and played the continuous spell card: Fusion Gate. "What are you going to do with that?" Cleo wondered. "There is one monster that can help us out. One that Cable designed." Fraser gasped, he realized which card Nero was talking about. "Prospero was not the only one that had been given a Fusion/Synchro monster. I got one too. One that was made just for cases like these.. where we would have to fight our enemies as one." He began his turn at last and summoned the warrior, E-Hero Clayman(800/2000). "This monster is a fusion of a highlevel dragon synchro and a warrior!" He sent Red Dragon Archfiend and the Clay hero into the fusing gate, removing them from play so that he could merge them into one being. "Come out, Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste!"

A dragonic winged knight(3200/2000) in blue armor wielding a large lance, that was the endresult. A fusion Seneska and Raness did not recognize. "I designed that, to counter dangerous demons like Yubel.." Fraser explained. "Indeed. Draco Equiste has two effects. One: it can remove one dragon monster in the cemetery from play, and imitate its effects." Draco Equiste demonstrated this power by removing Clear Vice Dragon from play, so that it could not summoned again. "Secondly, any and all effect damage we take is reflect back to the one that gave it away!" This meant that even if The Nothing destroyed elementals, the reflected damage would be reflected again. And if he tried to destroy Equiste, it could use the effect of Vice Dragon to negate it own destruction. "Divine Neos!" The god hero charged its energy already. "Take this Azoth! Legendary Strike!" And the golden celestial released the holy beams. _"If there is a one true god out there, watching this all. Then we are fighting for him or her too. For everything the lord created.."_

(To be Continued in New Testament 122: On the Zeroth Day)

**New Card used by Nero Jacobus  
**Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Skull Knight 2  
The Wicked Dreadroot

-  
Skull Lair

**New Cards used by William Carter  
**Fusion Gate

**New Cards used by Azoth  
**_Clear Rage Golem(+)_

_-  
The Nothing_

_(+)Based on the cards used by Yusuke Fujiwara in YGO GX Season 4, albeit with some names altered._


	122. On the Zeroth Day

**New Testament 122: On the Zeroth Day**

Divine Neos(3000/2500) fired its holy beams at the nothingness before it. With the Dragon Knight by its side, all effect damage would be returned to Azoth. This was their only way of hurting it right now. "Spectral Shield." Only for it to block them. "No!" A continuous trap had been activated, which negated the light element. "This shield blocks an element once." There were six gems on the shield, one of which had been broken by Neos. "Grrr. Go Draco Equiste!" Nero attacked again, with the dragon warrior(3200/2000). Even if the void tried to destroy it, Clear vice Dragons stolen powers would protect his monster. **"In vain.." **Alas the spear of the fusion dragon was fused with the wind-element, so it was negated after the green crystal shattered. "He can not negate attacks from these two monsters again, Seneska. It is only a matter of time." He placed a trap card face down and ended his turn. **"That is correct, Nero Sullivan. But time is not on your side The more turns pass, the closer my Ka comes to the universal perfect state."**

Azoths LP: 8100 Team Duelists LP: 6300

_Spectrum Shield, Continuous Trap  
__When this card is activated, add 'Wind', 'Water', 'Fire', 'Earth', 'Light' and 'Dark' attribute-counters to this card (Max: 6).  
While this card is on the field, you must negate an opponents attack by removing a counter with the same attribute as the attacking monster. Destroy this card if it has no attribute-counters._

"Then stop talking and let us do our thing!" Cleo drew another card, but it was not of much help to her. "Tsk. I switch Skull Knight(1000/1200)." At the very least that Shield had to negate any attacks made against it, so even something this weak could contribute. "It attacks!" The knight plunged its sword into the void, and the shield blocked it. The black crystal was the third to be destroyed, half of them remained. "I set a card, a monster and I end my turn." Cleo Caine saw no use in sacrificing weak darklings for Ectoplasmer. "Though I see what you are gloating about." Even as Azoth drew, its features growing less pronounced by the minute. Before they could at least make out the overall structure of his armor, now even that had become vague and intangible. "The final of emotions. When all vice is eradicated, when fear, hatred, joy and anger no longer have meaning. Virtue remains." He activated a continuous spell card. "Clear Reborn." Two streaks of blue energy crossed the colorless floor, opening a rift into another world.

"If no spirits live here, one clear spirit will be given new life." He summoned a new monster, a crystal framed mirror(2000/1000). "Clear Virtue Mirror." The mirror had one monster reflected inside its glass panel. "The mirror controls another spirit." It was he Dragon Knight. "This is bad.." The fusion of Nero flew over to Azoth's side of the field. "Now we cant deflect effect damage huh.." They knew why he took that monster. That it was the strongest on the field was a nice bonus. "Die.. God of Neos." With its spear, Draco Equiste launched itself into the other fusion monster, Elemental Hero Divine Neos was stabbed right through the heart and crushed mercilessly. "Every endphase, Virtue Mirror weakens." The Mirror powered down(1500/500), and he ended his turn. "Virtue huh. Things like those can exist in the world as it was before you came along. You do know that right?" Cleo glared at the Magus. **"Vice will beat virtue in your world, Cleo Caine. The rewards of the former outweigh those of the latter, that is your natural law.."**

_Clear Reborn, Continuous Spell  
__Once per turn when you control no monster cards, you can special summon 1 'Clear'-monster from the graveyard to your field.  
__You can only summon the same monster once. You can not summon or set other cards during the turn this card is activated._

_Clear Virtue Mirror, 10/2000/1000 ?/Machine  
__When this card is summoned switch control of 1 other face-up monster on the field. Decrease this cards ATK and DEF by 500 during the endphase of a turn.  
__When this card is removed from your field by a card effect, return control of the selected monster to your opponent._

Team Duelists LP: 6100

"My turn." William drew a monster card, for which had he did not have much use. "Carter, I still need to pay you back for Red Dragon Archfiend. So use this!" But Nero flipped his trap: Chain Material. "With this trap in effect, any fusion this turn can take its materials from the deck or grave!" And since Fusion Gate was already on the field, they could fusion summon as much as they wanted. "You want me to use this? I wont say no to that!" He went too work immediately. "I remove two Cyber Dragons in my cemetery and one in my deck, to fusion summon Cyber End Dragon!" A three-headed machine(4000/2800) monstrosity appeared. "Then I fuse Cyberdark Edge, Horn and Keel!" His next fusion summon was for the dragon in black armor, Cyberdark Dragon who gained 100 attackpoints for all remaining monsters in his graveyard.(1700/1000). "It can equip one dead dragon to itself as well!" Diabolos, King of the Abyss(2800/1000) was chosen, its attackpoints added to the Cyberdarkling(4500/1000). "Awesome. If those two attack, we win!" Cleo was happy now that she had used Skull Knight turn to weaken the Spectral shield. "There is only one problem. I cant attack during a turn in which Chain Material is used." That was the cost. "What?"

"Then what good are they?" Cleo hissed. She realized that Chain fused monsters would also be destroyed the very next turn. "Your other spell can still help us. But that will only spare one of them. The other.." He summoned the Union machine, Heavy Mech Support Platform(500/500). "Can be saved with this." He equipped it to the Black Dragon(5000/1500), powering it up a little. "My turn is over. But now I will use Ectoplasmer!" He sacrificed Cyber End Dragon to inflict half of its attack as effect damage, ectoplasmic energy hit Azoth dead on. "Then the Mech Platform destroys itself to keep Cyberdark Dragon on my field." Next turn he would be able to attack with his dragon. But that still left one problem. "He still controls Draco Equiste." Clear Virtue Mirror(1000/0) lost more points. "Not for long." Nero smiled. "My turn.."

Azoths LP: 6100

"I activate the trap card: Hero Blast!" A wind blast hit his side of the field. "I take back a normal-type E-Hero." He reclaimed Avian(1000/1000). "And then I destroy a monster who is weaker than it!" He had to wait until this turn, to use it. But now the Mirror's attackpoints were low enough to be taken down by Avian. "Oh!" Because it had been taken out by an effect, the Dragon Knight returned to Nero's field. Then he started his turn for real. "I just drew E-Hero Burstinatrix. I can fuse her and Avian with Fusion Gate!" The fire lady and wind male were fused into the most well-known of fused E-Heroes, Flame Wingman(2100/1200). "Now that Dracoquites is back on our field, we can resume our attack plan!" He entered the battle phase. "Flame Wingman attack!" His winged fire warrior blasted towards the nothingness, however the Spectral Shield could still sacrifice its fire-counter to stop the attack. "And then!" He was about to attack again. "Nero, wait!"

"It's a trap. Don't attack with Dracoquites, it is the only thing standing between you and that world." It too a few seconds before William understood what he meant. "Of course. He cant redirect the effect damage, if it is destroyed first." Last time it had the protection of Clear Vice Dragon, not anymore. **"They are right. You would only have hurt yourself. Yet then, that is what you are already doing.." **The Magus laughed. "Why don't you ever stay quiet!" The goth snapped at her. "Nero. Let me take care of this. You have done enough for this turn." Reluctantly he nodded, and ended his battle phase. "Turn end." Cleo then drew her next card, Advanced Ritual Art. _"Oh great. This is not useful to me at all." _Left with no choice, she activated her trap card. "Reckless Greed. I skip my next two draw phases to draw two cards." She gained another trap and a monster card. _"Emissary from Pandemonium?"_ It was the highlevel fiend tuner. _"Wait. This is why I put it in my deck.."_ She glanced at Skull Knight 2. "I tribute the knight for this monster!"

The Pandemonium tuner could be tributed with only one tribute, in which case its stats(1400/900) would be halved and its level would drop to 5. "And when Skull Knight 2 is sacrificed for a fiend, another appears." her third Knight(1000/1200) came to the field. "Now, synchro summon!" The level 3 Skeleton warrior and the hellhound were tuned into her new favorite Synchro, the Hundred Eyes Dragon(3000/2500). "I can now copy any dark monsters effect in my cemetery! And I choose Plague Wolf!" The dragons eyes all glowed red. "This monster can double its attackpower now. And it attacks the void!" Hundred-Eyes(6000/2500) unleashed its barrage of eye lasers at Azoth. The Shield could not stop them, but The Nothing fieldspell reflected everything. Her synchro was killed by its own attack. "Dragon Knight!" But at last Nero's monster could put itself to good use, it stood in front of the goth and pushed the remaining lasers back at the enemy. **"Feh.." **Azoth was knocked down by the multiple dark beams, his life nearly depleted. "Had I known it would have been this close.." Nero now regretted not using Ectoplasmer on Flame Wingman. "I wish I had monsters left as well. But we can make up for it next turn." Cleo placed two cards down and ended hers.

Azoths LP: 100

"Your knight is as good as gone, Seneska." Raness smirked. **"You still do not see it for what it really is, the reality slips away.. further and further." **Azoth drew again. By now they could not even see the hand that drew the card, or the card itself. Though for an instant there was a strange black trail inside the void. "Dread." And Clear Reborn revived the Clear Dread Knight(2300/1100) this turn. "Not that thing again." But the appearance of it gave them something to compare the changes too. "Its type iserased too?" Dread Knight was no longer registered as a warrior-type, now it lacked both type and attribute. "This must be that slipping away thing." Dread Knight then used its effect to copy the attackpoints of the dragon Equiste (Dread Knight: 5500/1100). "The End.." And it cut the dragon lancer in half with one mighty swing. "Then the spell: Clear Wave." And afterwards a large wave of colorless water washed over Cyberdark Dragon and Ectoplasmer. "Hey hey!" Both the fused machine and the continuous spell were reduced to bloody red puddles of acid.

**"All must be purged, all the shadows cast by the light of the sun, all the errors of emotions. Only then can humanity return to god." **Their plans had all been ruined in one attack.

Team Duelists LP: 3800

_Clear Wave, Quickplay Spell  
__When a 'Clear'-monster destroys an opponents monster as a result of battle, you can destroy up to two face-up cards on the field._

"I do not think god would approve of what you are doing!" Cleo yelled as she flipped her trap card Michizure, which dragged Clear Dread into the grave after it killed the Dragon Knight. **"Not the god you serve. But Alkahest knows there is one above all. Ger, Osiris, Obelisk, they were all created just like the children of man. But 'he who created life and magic', he is the one perfect being. Such splendour and magnificence is beyond even your gods, Brother. This is not a step back, it is the only way to move forward! You will all see how wrong you were!" **Meanwhile the Millennium Puzzle glowed as fierce as the sun itself. "The energy he is giving off. Azoth has gained even more power from the gate?" Azoth ended its turn, now completely shrouded in colorless mist. **"Soon nothing will be able to touch him, all elements will be banished!" **William started his turn and sacrificed Flame Wingman and Cleo's facedown Mad Reloader(0/0). "We have to try anyway! Let's see if we can negate the effect of that field spell."

"I tribute summon Light and Darkness Dragon!" The blackdevil/whiteangel dragon(2800/2300) was summoned. "This is a test." The monster spewed black and white flames into the void. "..." Yet the flames were sent back. "It could not negate it?" However his dragon could shield itself with its bat-like wing, the blast of darkness only wounded the dark side. "It only sent one element back!" They could hear faint grunting noises from the other side, though Azoths lifepoints did not lower. But neither did theirs. "I intended to use my dragons power against The Nothing, instead I found a different weak point." Yet what did this all mean? "Wait, that is it!" Nero noticed something. "Look!" for a minute the fog turned golden, but instantly lost its color. "That is what me have to do, we have to flood the nothingness with all the elements at once! Your attack almost worked because he was already hit with darkness. It could not handle two attributes at once, and it chose to deflect what had already hit him." And if they fired all six, there was no telling what could happen. "But can one summon all six attributes in one turn?"

"I can." Nero took a deep breath. "If I believe.." He drew what would be his last card. "I activate.." And what he wished for, was given to him. "Parallel World Fusion." The spell that fused monsters in the removed from game zone. Whether by Fusion Gate or by Miracle Fusion. "But my dragon.." LightandDarkness tried to negate the spell. "That is what I have this for. Quickplay spell card: The Planets Cry." He used the magic Christine also used. "It prevents spell cards from being negated this turn." William did not have to worry, his dragon would not stop the fusion. "I combine Burstinatrix, Avian, Clayman and Bubbleman!" He combined fire, wind, earth and water. "Elemental Hero Electrum." To summon the alchemical warrior(2900/2600). **"The Elixer?" **A hero that was all five elements at once. "But we lack the darkness.."

"I will take care of that!" Cleo smiled and activated her facedown card. "Double Spell, I discard a card to activate a spell in another players graveyard!" She used it to reactivate Between the Dawn and Dusk. "Oh!" Williams Continuous spell added the sixth attribute to Electrum, who was a light-elemental on his own. "Now it has all six elements at once. The Nothing can not deal with this at all!" He entered the battle phase. "Take this direct attack, the culmination of all life and nature as we have known it: Fusion Magistry!" Electrum fired a burst of fire/wind/water/earth/light and shadow magic. "Spectrum Shield." Azoth tried to negate it with his trap. "Think again!" But Carter could negate it by reducing LightandDarknessdragons(2300/1800) attack and defense points by 500. **"No.." **The shield shattered and the beams went ahead unopposed. **"You can not.. you can not vanquish the perfect energy!" **Six colors flashed through the void, filling it with all that it had been lacking up until now. **"Your world.. can not.. match mine!"**

Azoths LP: 0

(To be Continued in New Testament 123: Gospel of Baptism)

**New Card used by Nero Jacobus  
**_The Planets Cry_

_-_  
Chain Material

**New Cards used by Cleo Caine  
**Plague Wolf

-  
Double Spell

**New Cards used by Azoth  
**_Clear Virtue Mirror  
__Clear Wave_

_Clear Reborn_

_-  
Spectrum Shield_


	123. Gospel I: Baptism

**New Testament 123: Gospel of Baptism**

Team Duelists LP: 3800 Azoths LP: 0

**"No. Not possible.." **They had figured out the weakness of Azoth in its imperfect state. It could not handle all six elements at once. Hundred Eyes and LightandDarkness had already weakened its defenses against the darkness too. The attack of Electrum destroyed everything that remained. "A spirit that embodies all six elements." This was the first time Raness had ever seen something like that, normally no such monster existed. "Now what will.. happen?" The crystal knight stood there, no longer shrouded in the fog of nothingness. They could see the area around them again as well, Heliopolis and the shining sun itself. "That thing was supposed to be the guide into the new world. If they defeated it, will the souls still come?" Cable saw now changes in the rest of their surroundings, the gate was still open and the sun was still as red as blood. "Heh." Either way the three duelists had won, and Azoth crumbled before their feet, bits and pieces of its armor sinking into the clear water. No traces of Alkahests spirit remained..

**"You have done it now." **Seneska did not look pleased. "Meanwhile what can you do now?" Cleo and the others turned to her. "Seneska. You have lost. Without Azoth you can not control the vast amount of souls that are waiting in the golden light. You can not begin the final process." Rubedo was still not finished, the gate could not convert any soul as it was now. **"You think you can stop me now, after I have come this far?" **They did think that, she could see it in their minds. "You called it your world.." But they could see into hers a little as well. "That was what you said just now, that we were taking away the world you desired. I thought it would be a world for us all.." Nero did not like what he had heard. **"What? This has all been for our sake! It is natural that I want to be perfect like the others!" **She hissed. "No. I do not believe you do feel that way, Senes." Raness knew better. Even after all these millennia, he could guess what she really was thinking. "This whole idea was born from self-interest. You do not want perfection at all.."

Her one eye twitched. **"You think you know me?" **She was the one with the mindreading eye here. "I do. I finally can see beyond 'the sister', something I was never able to do back then. I think I now know how much you have hated me. That I became the next Pharaoh, that the gods answered to me. You have always envied my power and position." He sighed, if only he had seen this sooner. "Heh. Finally you figure it out. Too little too late." Seneska suddenly spoke with her human voice, the voice of little sister Senes. "Yes I did envy you. The same way our mother envied our father. In a way I inherited more than her Eye, I inherited her passion and her wrath. And this eye told me enough, I read how the others felt about me all along. They did not think I was strong enough.." A nasty smile framed her face. "I might have started out in a terrible way, searching for power and the source behind the Millennium Items. I wanted to make my own Puzzle to summon the gods. Instead.. I found the source of life and magic itself."

"You should see it for yourself, brother. The world where the soul exists without shadow or heart." She looked up at the gate with a strange sort of glee. That is what it is all about. The end of emotions.." She touched her Millennium Eye. "They sicken me.. Even now you are thinking of ways to stop me, to destroy me. So you can go back to your happy lives; your trivial tasks and meaningless pursuits. I loathe the joy that I can not have, I grieve because of the hate that never dies, I fear for an eternal sorrow. This eye of mine sees them go on and on and on. It is a cycle of mortals and immortals, the cycle of this existence." By now she was surrounded by the duelists. They had enough of her speech. "If you hate emotions so much, why don't you just take out that eye?" William asked the obvious. Because that should stop her from seeing the things she despised. "If only it was that easy. But denial is not the solution." Her golden eye stared at them once more. **"Only when all souls are as one, a gathering of blissful perfection. Only then will I rest!"**

She crossed her arms and released a wave of sonic energy that knocked everyone back. "Gah!" She used this opening to fly towards the gate of Alkahest. "Senes, don't!" And with another blast she literally tore it open. "You can not control what is set loose!" The portal released even more of the colorless liquid. **"This is how it will happen, Raness! Like the universe was born from one grand explosion, the death of the sun will return all life in its range to the world before time itself. Only then can we enter the realm of the creator! If he even exists.." **The clear matter started to flood the city, the duelists had little places left to run. **"And if god does not exist, if life was just a mistake of fate. Then I will reset everything, I will make it all better. No more duality of the spirit, no more destructive consciousness, no more elements!" **She laughed out loud as the more cracks appeared in the sun, the gate absorbing even more energy from it. **"All shall be purged by the realm of perfection, I will it!"**

"I'd say she has definitely lost what sanity she held on to until now." Cleo and the others tried to escape the flood by reaching for higher ground. But all the buildings, pillars and gates around them melted even quicker then the sand they were running on. Even the monsters they had summoned were eaten away, no matter how many they tried to call out. "What are we supposed to do? Fighting her wont stop the gate at this point." Strangely though the acidlike water slowed down when it came near them. "The Puzzle!" Raness's item was glowing as fierce as it had been since the duel ended. "Of course. The gate and the items were forged from the same source. "Use them!" Nero, Cleo and William took out what they had. But only the Rod, Ring and Key were glowing. "It's not enough." They stood back to back in a circle, holding out the items towards the incoming water. They managed to hold it off, but they were not pushing it back anymore. "Damn it. It can not end like this. This is not right!" It seemed like they would be erased any second now.

"Wait, what is.." Something appeared from across the horizon. "The sun?" It looked like a new dawn, the dark red sky was illuminated by a golden orb of light. "No that is.." But the sun was still above them. This new lightsource was something far grander. **"They have come?" **It was the earth itself. Or rather, it was the representation of all human life. A massive sphere of concentrated purified Ba, all the souls of the living and dead gathered into one shape. Its warm rays made all the duelists feel relaxed, as if they had no concerns left. "It's beautiful.." Even Jane Doe could not contain how she felt about this, it was simply magnificent. "But why.. why is it here? I though the souls would only come if Azoth drew them in?" Had their duel been for nothing after all? **"Those are the souls who have already accepted what is to come. of course they will.." **Seneska thought this was good news. "Hey.." But then two beams were released from the immense lightball, and they connected with the Millennium Scales and Tauk. "That means.."

And just like that, Colin Sairve and Christine Rose reappeared in their midst. "Guys!" Nobody could believe their eyes. **"What!" **Not even when they took the items in their own hands, and added enough to the millennial energy output to evaporate the threatening flood itself. The city around them had already been destroyed, but they were safe. "How.. how did you.." They really were here, Cable could touch them. "In the end we got ourselves a miracle too." Colin winked at Cleo. "Huh? Don't tell me Anima rescued you guys too." She was confused and annoyed at the same time. "No. You saved us. Because you held on to the Millennium Items after we were defeated." Christine held up the scales. "Part of us, our shadows, merged with the items we won from the Copper and Mercury Pillar. Just like how Cleo's shadow became one with Jane. Now our souls are close enough to help you through those items." So in effect they were not really here, but they could show up using the Items as some form of transmitter. "This is incredible.."

**"The children..the... ghhhaahh!" **The Magus naturally did not like this development either. "I see she is still being a problem." The gate had stopped shedding clear matter for some reason, but they could not leave Seneska alone. **"It sensed you.. your defects! The gate cant grow if the souls are rebelling, Rubedo can not start until all shadows are gone!" **She now realized that this could only be settled one way. **"Then if all of your new priests have returned, we can settle this once and for all, right Raness? One last duel, just like in the old times!" **Raness took a deep breath. "It seems that is the only way." he closed his eyes and tried to speak out to his host again. _"Can you hear me, partner? This is the final enemy. In case I can never speak to you again after this is over, I just want you to know.. that I thank you for everything you have done." _He received no answer, but somehow he felt like Elias was ready as well. "Let's do this, Magus Seneska. A one-on-one game to decide the fate of everything."

"Wait, Pharaoh. Your life.." Raness had lost over a quarter of his lifepoints in the duel against the sentinel Amon. "You are not in this alone. That's what we priests are for, right?" Christine extended her hand. "Hm?" William got what she was talking about and did the same. "I mean not everyone of us can give you something." Colin did the same. "You mean, you are out of lifepoints." Cleo quipped and placed her hand on top of the others. "Life.. spirits, we will gave whatever you need." Nero was the fifth. "I am affraid I already gave all I could." Cable stood by and watched. "That is okay, you are already doing more than I could ever have asked for. You are not just my priests, but also my friends.." He absorbed some of their combined lifepoints, though as Cleo said Colin and Christine had nothing left to give. "Pharaoh.." And even Jane offered her hand. "Please.. do not lose.." Raness nodded and accepted it. "I do not know where Jackson is, but I will fight for him like he fought for me. You can trust me, Jane Doe.."

(Team Duelists LP: 100)

Raness's LP: 9100 Seneska's LP: 8000

Raness walked through the gate into the only building still standing, the sun temple. "Here I am, Seneska." He activated his dueldisk, as the Magus floated down into the temple's courtyard. **"You have faith in yourself, do you not? You believe you can defeat me here and now." **She summoned her cards, letting them levitate in the air. "Azoth is gone now, you don't have the ability to banish elemental damage.. not anymore." And even then, he had the gods with him. **"I still have everything else, Raness. Even the eye that started it all." **She drew six cards and started her turn. **"I begin this duel! Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill!" **She activated the continuous spell card that removed all her dying cards from play. **"And the remnants of my creations. My pillars." **She then activated the spell; Yellow Process - Citrinitas, to special summon a 'Homunculus' from her deck. **"The first to fall is the first to come. I summon the Lead Homunculus." **Her first monster was the incarnation of Thryall (100/2500).

"I know what that does." Elias had seen it in action against Hieroglyph. So he remembered too. "It reflects all damage and destroys an attacking monster." Seneska ended her turn by placing a trap. **"So you do. But there is nothing you can do about it, is there?" **The eye told her what was in his hand; Charge of the Light Brigade, Card of Safe Return, Garoth and Jain of the Lightsworn and Afterglow of a Miracle. No card could overpower the Homunculus. "But you know what my power is.. what a pharaoh can do." Raness drew his sixth card. **"But of course.." **She was only slightly surprised, when she saw him pull a god card from his deck. **"But you can not summon god with what you have right now." **He had no means of getting three tributes out. "Cant I?" Yet his thoughts went out to one card in his hand. **"What?" **She noticed those thoughts. **"Charge of.." **And when he played the spell card, Card of Safe Return, she had seen the combo he was planning. **"You can not be planning.. that is beyond even your powers!"**

"Charge of the Light Brigade: I discard three cards from my deck and add a Lightsworn to my hand and." He discarded three monsters from the top of his deck. "Unbelievable.." And to everyone elses amazement, all three were Lightsworn Wulf(2100/300). "When Wulf is discarded from the deck, I can summon him." The three beasts were special summoned to the field. And Card of Safe Return allowed him to draw cards every time a monster was revived. But that was not all. "Sacrifice.." He immediately tributed the Lightsworn trio to tribute summon his god. "Come out.. Winged Dragon of ra!" He recited the hieratic chant and the sun dragon(6300/900) emerged from the very sun behind Seneska. **"You manipulated the fate of the cards.. even before you drew them?" **Lead Homunculus could do nothing against this, monster effects could not destroy a god card. "Sister. I will not go easy on you. And now you must face the god I did not use against you before." He entered the battle phase. "God Blaze Cannon!"

(To be Continued in New Testament 124: Gospel of Transfiguration)

**New Card used by Raness  
**Winged Dragon of Ra

-  
Card of Safe Return


	124. Gospel II: Transfiguration

**New Testament 124: Gospel of Transfiguration**

Raness's LP: 9100 Seneska's LP: 1800

The remnants of Heliopolis were set on fire by the very deity they once worshipped, solar flames from the golden dragon spreaded throughout the wasteland, burning everything besides the spirits of the duelists. "Incredible..." With one attack, the Winged Dragon of Ra(6300/900) had reduced its enemy's lifeforce to but a sliver of its former self. The Lead Homunculus summoned by the Magus could not use its effects against such an adversary, a god could not be destroyed by any mortal effect. **"You.." **And from the divine blaze came Seneska herself, her armor charred and her face singed. **"You.. truly believe, this will end this quickly." **Raness could not help showing a little smile. "As I said, this is the first time you had to face Ra in a duel. And even if you can read my mind, you can not prepare for every eventuality. I do not fear the power your eye has." He placed one trap card of his own down. Thanks to Card of Safe Return he had drawn three cards this turn, so his hand was still holding a total of six cards. "This madness ends now.."

**"Madness." **Seneska drew her next card. **"That must be what it is, right? It must be me who is insane.." **She placed another trap facedown. **"It is this world that has gone mad, Raness. You just can not see it. You still can't. People suffer every day.. it is not my fault that they come to me for a solution." **Then a spell card was activated, Different Dimension Reincarnation. She could discard a card to revive a monster that was removed from play. **"My priests, my creations... coping with a world that tried to destroys its flaws rather than accept and integrate them." **She special summoned the card she had discarded, which was removed by the Alchemic Kettle. The twoheaded titan made of copper, Copper Homunculus(1700/1700). "Copper.. the Dioscuri?" The duelists remembered that the twins represented that element, and that they were keepers of the scales. **"Yes the Dioscuri. A creature born with a defect deemed incompatible with human standards. He/they came to me.. People like the twins and Thryall; a man mummified and entombed alive, they 'comitted' crimes against your kingdom, Raness." **She spoke of the Lead Pillar, whose Homunculus he had already destroyed.

**"Or what about Zakarias? Do you remember his true identity?" **She normal summoned a new Homunculus, a slender hollowfaced warrior made off iron, the Iron Homunculus(300/2300). "He was.. one of the royal guard." Raness did recall such a name. "The captain assigned to temple duties. The one closest... to you.." As the priest of the Millennium Eye, Seneska had been tasked with the protection of the spirit temple. Perhaps they had given her too much freedom as well. **"Yes, the poor captain.. his blood was spilled during a prison riot, and he would have died if it had not been for me. In the end all my creations were better off 'corrupted', as you would call it." **She then activated the effect of Copper Homunculus, activating an Alchemic tool spell from her hand to special summon up to three Alchemic Beasts from her extra deck. "Mercury Hourglass." In the cauldron three fishcreatures(500/500) were forged from molten Mercury. "Mercury Echeneis." Of course these creatures could attack directly like all Alchemic Beasts, the fishes swam through the air around the Winged Dragon and bit the pharaoh in the legs and arms. **"If we are mad, then the world made us that way. And it only deserves the pain we give it.."**

Raness's LP: 7600

_Iron Homunculus, 3/300/2300 Warrior/Earth  
__Battle damage to the controller of monsters with 'Homunculus' or 'Alchemy Beast' in their name from a battle involving those monsters becomes 0.  
__If this card would be destroyed as a result of battle while 'Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill' is face-up on the field, you can destroy a 'Alchemy Beast' monster you control instead._

_Mercury Hourglass, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while 'Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill' is face-up on your side of the field. Special summon 1 'Alchemy Beast - Mercury Echeneis' from your extra deck. _

_Alchemy Beast Mercury Echeneis 3/500/500 Water/Machine/Fusion  
__This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Mercury Hourglass'. This monster can attack your opponent directly. _

"But this is not the way Seneska. This is not an answer!" Raness drew again and he summoned Lyla, the Lightsworn Sorceress(1700/200). "What you are doing is returning everything to before! Undoing any progress we might have made!" He entered the battle phase. **"Your words did not affect me three thousand years ago, Raness. They wont now! You have seen to little of the world around, too little from the seat of your throne!" **Raness shook his head. "I have seen enough. Ra!" He sent the Winged Dragon to take down the Iron Homunculus. "This attack will end it?" Her lifepoints would be depleted if the hit connected. **"You are naive!" **But a strange metallic barrier surrounded her, and one of the Echeneis spirits jumped in the way of the god blaze. "What?" It was sacrificed so that the Homunculus could live. **"Iron Homunculus negates all battle damage done to me. And as long as Chaos Distill is active and keeps itself alive by tributing Alchemic Beasts."** The solar flames did not penetrate the iron barrier.

"As long as it is active? Then I strike at that!" Lyla used her white magic to destroy another Mercury Echeneis. The damage again was cancelled out. **"Yes I know. I saw that card in your hand earlier, a monster that destroys spells and traps when it switches itself to defense mode. But.." **She activated her trap at this point. **"I could see in your mind, that you wanted to attack with it first. When you destroyed my monster, I can activate Dimensional Balance!" **A rift in time-space opened, which sucked up Lyla. "No!" Then it closed up and the battle phase had ended. **"This trap was useless against God, but a monster like Lyla could be its victim." **The Kettle would remain on the field. **"Tell me again, Raness. What have you seen, that makes this world worth defending?" **She smirked. "I have seen.. my friends." He looked at the seven souls below. "I have seen how they lives, how they fought. They are the best of man.." He placed one card facedown and ended his turn. **"That is enough, for you?"**

_Dimensional Balance, Normal Trap  
__Activate only when one of your monsters is destroyed through battle. Immediately end the battle phase and activate one of the following effects:  
__- The monster which was destroyed is special summoned from the graveyard.  
__- The monster who destroyed your monster in battle is removed from play._

**"Ha! Nonsense.. I.." **She drew again, but was shocked by something on the field. **"That card."** She looked into his mind again, to see what he had set down. One trap was Afterglow of a Miracle, which was no threat as long as she kept attacking directly. But the second set card she could not see at all. "Can't you tell what it is?" Now he did the smirking. **"Where did it..come from?" **His mind not know either, or rather his mind only told her one thing. **"Them." **She glared at the duelists. "Guess she figured it out." Colin said proudly. "That we gave him more than lifepoints.." She realized now, what it was. **"One of their cards. I can not see something that belongs to another mind." **She cringed, what if the trap was dangerous? "Scared?" The goth taunted her. **"No! You are not dueling here! You are but relics. And I will erase you all!" **She summoned another Homunculus, which was the last card in her hand. **"The death of god! I summon Hieroglyphs spirit!" **The Tin Homunculus(0/0) clawed its way towards the field.

_"When it attacks it becomes stronger than even Ra?" _The others recognized it as the monster that defeated Hieroglyph, ironically enough. **"First Mercury Echeneis launched another direct attack." **The fish bit Raness once more, and returned to the side of powered up Tin warrior(7300/0). When it struck, its attack would always be one thousand higher than any other monsters. **"Not even Ra has a place in my world! A god is useless!" **The Homunculus struck. "Mirror Wall!" But the pharaoh then used the trap his sister could not see through. "My trap eh?" It was the continuous trap Cleo often used, a wall of glass that weakened a monsters attackpoints. The Tin Homunculus(3650/0) crashed into it and was shattered when the sun dragon responded with its claws. **"Tsk. A futile effort." **Nevertheless the shards of Tin bounced off the shield made by the Iron Homunculus. And at the same time a spellcounter was left on the body of the Copper Homunculus. **"God's days are numbered regardless." **She switched her remaining monsters to defense mode.

Raness's LP: 7100

**"I end my turn." **Her brother drew another card. "Your days are numbered too, Seneska. Come Garoth." His next monster was the Lightsworn axe wielder, Garoth(1850/1300). "Only one beast remains on your field!" The axe came down on the last Mercury Echeneis, reducing it to a puddle of liquid metal. "And now your Iron defender can not defend itself." He sent Ra to shatter the Iron Homunculus with one shot from its God Blaze Cannon. Though she did not lose life. "Turn end." One part of her combo had already been torn down, now he needed to destroy Dioscure's remnant. **"Chaos Greed." **However the Magus was not any less of a threat with an empty hand, she had many ways of refilling it. **"Since all cards are erased from my cemetery, I can draw two cards." **The Kettle kept removing her cards. That was the way she liked it; the absence of death and graves corresponded with her idea of eternal life. **"And now.. Copper Scale." **She activated another alchemic tool, manipulating copper in the cauldron. From her extra deck came three Copper snakes. **"Copper Ouroboros." **Copper Homunculus had split them up into three again. **"Then a direct attack." **All three struck Raness, biting him just like the mercury fish did before.

Raness's LP: 5600

"If this keeps up, not even all the lifepoints he has left will help him." There was not much one could do to stop those pests, Colin would know. **"And then the spell card: Black Process Nigredo!" **She offered all three of her Alchemic Beasts. **"For the sacrifice of a beast forged by alchemy, I can draw two cards from my deck." **She had removed three, so she could draw up to six cards. "What? No way.." Even Cable found that an overpowered effect, he would never have designed such a spell. "I guess that is indicative of the power of her processes." William recalled the not-so-fun Nigredo step when all light was taken away. **"And then.. It begins all over again. Lead Compass." **She played another alchemical tool. This time it special summoned three Lead Lions(500/500) from her extra deck. Though she had already attacked this turn. **"I set a card face-down. Raness... brother, this is as far as you can go." **She ended her turn. "We shall see.." He drew another card. **"Stop trying to act, I know everything you know."**

_Black Process - Nigredo, Normal Spell  
__Activate only while you control a face-up 'Alchemic Kettle - Chaos Distill' and you have no cards in your hand.  
__Remove from play all monsters on your side of the field that include 'Alchemy Beast' in their card names. Draw 2 cards from your deck for each card that was removed by this effect. _

**"Your hand.. it has nothing but Lightsworn monsters and spells. Gragonith, Lumina, Jenis; nothing that can stop me. So I wonder if the cards your friends gave you are good enough." **Whatever he had pulled from the deck, she again could not see what it was. "Are you saying that our decks are bad, or that we could never hope to compete?" Rose did not like what she was implying. **"Raness would make sure any card was as good as gold, he has that special touch you see. Not literal gold mind you, that skill is something even Alkahest had difficulty with. But right now he needs more than a golden deity." **She pointed at her Homunculus. **"When Tin Homunculus was killed, he received a spellcounter. As long as he has that counter, it can not be killed in battle!" **That was the inherited power of Hieroglyph; aside from its ability to steal attackpoints, it wielded magic to keep itself and others alive even after death. "I know." But he was not worried. "I know Seneska." She flinched. **"What?"**

"I knew. That was why I did not attack it last turn. And that is why.. I am going to have to make a sacrifice." He activated the card she could not see. "Star Level Shuffle." A spell that exchanged monsters on the field with monsters in the grave, of equal levels. "Hey, that is my card!" Colin Sairve was pleased to see it used so soon. "But he has no level 10 monsters in his grave, right?" Nero wondered what his plan was. "He does.. he can exchange Ra, with itself." The seer explained. "I sacrifice the dragon and revive the dragon!" The sungod disappeared, only to rise from its ashes(0/0). "Amon told me this, that Ra gains new powers when it is special summoned from the cemetery!" It had given up all its attackpoints, so that it(0/0) could set its body on fire with the flames of the sun. "God Phoenix mode: by paying one thousand of my lifepoints a monster will return to the earth as black dust!" He paid the sum and the fiery bird flew towards the Homunculus. "And when the Homunculus dies, all Alchemic Beasts on the field die with it!"

Raness's LP: 4600

Ra created an inferno even greater than its opening attack, one that consumed the Homunculus of Copper and duality. At the same time all Lions were devoured by the sea of flames. Again the duelists were spared the onslaught, safely watching from the temple. "She is wide open!" Her last monsters had been killed. "Then one attack will finish it!" Garoth readied his axe. "You are through, Seneska!" The warrior jumped up and swung the axe down, slashing right across her. "It hit!" For a second it looked like the duel was over. But those with good eyes were not even given that hope. "No.. she trapped him!"

Raness's LP: 2750

"What..is this?" The axe had not hit her at all, it had been absorbed by another dimensional tear. **"Trap card: Dimension Wall. Damage I take this turn is given to you, Raness." **The exit of the tear was behind the pharaoh, that was why he took the blow. **"You are not my ruler, Raness. I did not build the anti-item for the sake of uniting all pillars." **She placed her hand on her chest. **"The seventh anti-item, the black pyramid puzzle, is within me now. I can manipulate fate just as well as you can." **Then with her other hand she took something from her robes. It was a mask just like the one Colin had broken. **"We are not related by blood, or connected by law." **She placed it back on her head, hiding everything but her golden eye behind colorless white material. **"I have outgrown you. And now, while I still can.. I will put you to death. My last task as your new Lord."**

(To be Continued in New Testament 125: Gospel of Miracles)

**New Card used by Raness  
**_Star Level Shuffle_

-  
Mirror Wall

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**_Alchemic Beast - Mercury Echeneis (+)  
_Iron Homunculus

-  
Different Dimension Reincarnation  
_Mercury Hourglass (+)  
__Black Process Nigredo (+)_

_-  
Dimensional Balance (++)_

_(+) Based on the cards used by Amnael in YGO GX  
__(++) Based on the trap used by Andore in YGO 5Ds episode 99_


	125. Gospel III: Miracles

**New Testament 125: Gospel of Miracles**

Seneska's LP: 1800 Raness's LP: 2750

**"Yes. The gods listened to you, Raness, they chose you as the next ruler. But I do not see the world with their eyes, I do not wish to rule with their power." **Ra had destroyed her monsters, and he came so very close to finishing the duel. But she was one step ahead of him. He could only set a monster and trap card facedown and end his turn. **"And now your mighty god will abandon you." **The phoenix of the sun, Ra(0/0), had been special summoned by Star Level Shuffle. Yet spells could only affect a god card for one turn. **"You believed you could finish me quickly, so you killed god yourself; sacrificing him for the sake of passing divine judgment." **During his endphase the fiery bird flew back into the cemetery. **"You judged poorly. And now it is time to undo the damage god has done... to me and to existence." **She started her turn and activated the continuous spell card: Soul absorption. "That spell gives her 500 lifepoints each time a card is removed from play?" That was not good news.

**"Now then. I see you have doubts about my lord-like powers." **Seneska could read it in her brothers mind, he did not believe she had the same powers as the puzzle did. **"Dimensional Alchemist." **She normal summoned a monarch-like magician(1300/200). **"This one removes what is on top of my deck to empower itself for one turn. Now then, what would be a good card to banish?" **She closed her one eye, smiled and took the card. "Necroface?" Cable recognized it, an undead head that removed the top 5 cards of the deck when it itself was removed from play. "Then she manipulated it to the top of her deck, the perfect card to use in this situation?" She removed it to strengthen her Alchemist(1800/200). **"Five cards from my deck, five from yours." **Raness had to banish a lot,in total eleven cards were removed. **"5500 lifepoints are restored."** Then she entered the battle phase and sent her monster to kill his facedown card. **"But of course I have seen what it is, and how you will use your trap to revive it." **Lumina, the Lightsworn Summoner(1000/1000) was destroyed. "Afterglow of a Miracle." And like she had predicted, it was revived by his trap card. At the same time he could draw a card thanks to Card of Safe Return.

Seneska's LP: 7300

"Perhaps you do have the power now.. but that alone is not enough.." He started his turn and drew again. "**Ryko and Jain of the Lightsworn? No, those are not enough." **Naturally she had seen into his hand after every draw, and was not impressed. "Then I will do more! Lumina activates her effect!" The summoner discarded a card to revive a level 4 Lightsworn, and she revived the same monster that he discarded: Jenis, the Lightsworn Mender(300/2100) in defense mode. "Card of Safe Return gives me yet another card." This one he placed down immediately. "I then sacrifice Garoth to tribute summon Gragonith!" He summoned the Lightsworn Dragon(2000/1600), who gained 300 points from the gravebound Lightsworns: Wulf and Garoth. "Gragonith attacks!" The pegasus dragon(2600/2200) spewed holy flames to melt down the Alchemist(1300/200). "And Lumina attacks directly!" The summoner punched Seneska. Though he could not tell if it bothered her at all, since the mask hid all her expressions. "Finally during my endphase, Jenis will drain your lifepoints when a Lightsworn discards cards." Gragonith and Lumina both discarded 3 cards from the top of his deck, allowing the redhaired white mage to steal 500 lifepoints from the Magus.

Seneska's LP: 5000 Raness's LP: 3250

**"You must be getting desperate, attacking that many times." **Even though she lost some life, she gained some back when her Kettle removed the Alchemist from play. **"But again, it is all futile. Silver Lamp." **Then she activated the alchemic tool of the silver beasts, forging a Silver Moonface(500/500). **"And Golden Homunculus." **Only to sacrifice it for her strongest monster. "Oh crap." And one of Colins nightmares, the golden golem(1500/1500), who gained 300 points for each card she had removed from play. And thanks to all the alchemic tools, beasts and homunculi, there were 32 of those. (Homunculus: 11100/11100). And seeing as how both Moonface and its respective spell were removed, she gained 1000 LP from her absorber and thus already healed the mark left by Lumina.

Seneska's LP: 6000

**"One attack will finish it. What was it you said again: you are through?" **She entered her battle phase. **"Well, that is what you are now, Raness." **The Homunculus lashed out. And while Gragonith(3500/3100) had gained some new power from a few Lightsworns that were discarded last endphase, Raness still would not live through this. And Seneska could see no trap face-down, that he could activate right now. "Trap card!" Yet he activated one, just as his dragon was crushed. "What?" A hive-like forcefield surrounded the pharaoh, reducing the effect damage he took. "Reduction Barrier?" It was Christine's card that saved him, a trap that cut battle damage down to one/tenth. Instead of 7600 damage, he took 760 damage. "You could not see this trap coming, could you Seneska?" Raness smiled. **"Feh.."**

Raness's LP: 2490

The Magus placed two cards down and ended her turn. _"These last few turns were too close for comfort."_ Raness realized she was too powerful for his normal Lightsworns, he needed more help from the gods. "First I activate my trap card: Luminous Momentum!" He revealed the trap that switched around powerboosts, he inverted the effect of Golden Homunculus(0/0), who was now depowering itself. "Why didn't he use that last turn?" Cleo asked. "It can't be used unless no other cards are set on his field." Carter replied. "Then he should be able to kill her Homunculus now, right?" Lumina was more than strong enough, Nero thought. "But she has traps waiting." Colin could not trust anything she was hiding. "Lumina!" Raness then revived Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress. The first one was still removed by Dimensional Balance, but a second one had been discarded from his deck last turn. "And then I draw from Card of Safe Return!" But it was his next draw which would change everything. **"!" **Seneska watched as the deck gave him the god Osiris.

"Get ready." By switching Lyla to defense mode, he destroyed a spell on the field. "Erase yourself, Chaos Distill!" The kettle was removed from play at last. "Then a sacrifice summon!" Lyla, Lumina and Jenis, the three female mages, were tributed for a godly summon. "Osiris, dragon of the heavens!" The red dragon god descended in a hail of thunderbolts, shrieking at the Golden Homunculus before it. **"The god that defeated Archon.." **It gained 1000 attackpoints for every card in its masters hand, and Raness had four. "Osiris. Take it down, now, Thunder Force!" The Sky Dragon released a beam of concentrated thunder, a beam that not even Seneska's traps could stop. "He did it!" One blow took out half her lifepoints. And because the Alchemic cauldron had been destroyed and sent to another dimension, the Homunculus itself was not removed from play. Soul Absorption was no longer in effect. "This duel will not end like our fight three thousand years ago..." He placed a trap down, causing Osiris(3000/3000) to lose power.

Seneska's LP: 2500

**"...Not like then?" **She drew a card and placed it facedown. **"Do not get overconfident just because we are almost equals in Ba. I vanquished your god once and I can do so again.." **She then ended her turn. "Back then you had your servants to overpower our armies and spirits. Now you stand alone.. Magus." Raness drew again. "And nothing stands in the way of gods breath." He summoned Jain, the Paladin of the Lightsworn(1800/1200). **"Am I now?" **Seneska activated her trap card: Escape from the Dark Dimension. **"This trap revives a dark-elemental monster from the other dimension." **And she chose one of the monsters removed by Necroface earlier, a winged metallic warrior(2100/2100). **"Even now my pillars aid me.. like Archon. Meet the Silver Homunculus. When he is revived, he can unremove another." **The Silver one also took the Iron Homunculus(300/2300) from the removed-from-play zone. "But this activates the effect of Osiris!" The god opened its second mouth and fired lightning from it. "Any summoned monster loses two thousand defense points!" Iron(300/300) and Silver(2100/100) had been summoned in defense mode, so they lived through the attack. **"Yes, your hope was mine as well."**

_Silver Homunculus, 7/2100/2100 Warrior/Dark  
__When this card is successfully special summoned you can select 1 monster that was removed from play and special summon that monster to your side of the field.  
__Card effects that target this card can not target other cards during the next two turns._

Suddenly silver chains came from the Homunculus which wrapped up the mouth of the red dragon. "What is.." Silvers second effect prevented a monster that affected it from affecting others this turn. **"Ah yes Archon, the last one to join my cause. A man exiled from a town in your very kingdom, just because he looked different. But then.. you do not remember his innocent days, do you?" **Strangely, and disturbingly, the area grew even darker than normal. **"You only remember the bad, you always do. The sins he committed in my name, the duels he fought and the souls he claimed. Archon was perhaps my most devastating of servants." **In fact this started to look like a shadowgame to those that had seen one before. "What are you saying?" Raness's worries grew. **"Let us make this a game of shadows, Raness. One you and your priests can enjoy together" **Laughter came from the other side of her mask. **"Not to worry, It wont be something as crude, it will be my specialty." **

"You are sick.. Seneska." He entered the battle phase. **"Say what you want.. I activate Macrocosmos!" **She flipped her continuous trap that removed all cards that were sent to the grave, not just hers. It also special summoned the Primordial Sun Helios(1600/1600) to the field, who gained 100 attackpoints for every monster removed from play. "Osir.." And thanks to Silver Homunculus, his god could not strike it. "Then I will attack!" Jain(2100/1200) swung his sword at the Solar entity, only to run into Seneska's third trap.** "Dimensional Prison." **Jain was sealed away by a dimensional rift. "Then I activate my own trap: Miracle Locus!" Osiris(4000/3000) suddenly gained power. "It strengthens a monster and allows it to attack twice!" In return, Seneska could draw a card from her deck. "Double Thunder Force!" The Sky Dragon fired two beams of thunder, which decimated the Silver Homunculus and Helios. Though their deaths only reactivated Soul Absorption, as Macrocosmos removed them along with the many traps used this turn.

Seneska's LP: 5500

By now the field was no longer just dark, it was filled with stars and planets. **"You failed to beat me this turn, so the shadowgame takes its toll." **This was her shadow environment, the cosmos itself. The duelists all stood on their own planetoids now, instead of a suntemple. **"I will start with Cable Fraser, as he was not even good enough for you." **The pharaoh flinched. "I never.." Yet she ignroed him and glared at Fraser. "What will you do?" He refused to show fear, even though she would know if he were afraid. **"The penalty game is simple. For someone who clings to the flawed world of the old, I will make them relive their misery." **The Millennium Eye started to glow. "Don't!" Cable was unable to look away, or even move. **"Your worst memory, treasure it.. and witness it again.. and again.. and again!" **A beam shot out of her eye and into his mind, Cable Fraser was frozen in place. "You monster.. what did you do!" Nero shouted at her. **"For now until the end of this world.. he will see that which hurt him the most."**

"You..I will.." She started her turn. **"Its my turn now, Raness. Spell card: Golden Sarcophagus." **She took one card from her deck and removed it from play. The golden coffin itself was also removed, so she regained even more life. **"Allow me to teach you.. how I have outgrown even the gods." **She sacrificed the Iron Homunculus for a sixth level spirit. **"Second stage - Helios Duo Megistus." **Out came a somewhat larger solar body, the evolution of Helios. She gained 200 attackpoints instead of 100. And after the removal of her Iron creation, 21 monsters were removed from play (10 Alchemic Beasts, 5 Homunculi, 2 Lightsworn, Necroface, Alchemist and 2 victims of Necroface's effect) So Duo Megistus(4200/4200) was stronger than Osiris(3000/3000). "No.." And with one blast of solar energy, the mighty god of the heavens was felled, disappearing into the darkness of the cosmic void. "Not even two gods can stop her?" Colin did not like that at all, especially since he could predict who would be given a penalty game next.

Raness's LP: 1290 Seneska's LP: 7500

"Damn you. This is between you and me, Seneska!" He yelled as he ended his turn. **"Then stop me if you want to. Protect your priests, whom you say have shown you the light of this world. But I don't think you can stop me with what remains in your hand." **All he had left was Nature's Reflection and Ryko. "Then I will draw what I need to stop you!" He gained a spell from his hand and immediately activated it. "Swords of Revealing Light!" Swords rained down on the field, trapping Megistus for three turns. **"That is your only answer, a stalling spell?" **She cackled as he placed his remaining two cards down. **You must really want them to suffer for you, to experience the pain they are making a stand for. Very well!" **She turned her eye towards Colin. "I knew it!" He gasped. **"You whose card was already used by your Lord, you will be the next!" **It pierced into his mind, digging up his worst memories. "Stop it!" Nobody could help him now. **"Priest of the Tauk. Your future is no more, you will only see... the past!"**

(To be Continued in New Testament 126: Gospel of The Last Supper)

**New Card used by Raness  
**Jenis, Lightsworn Mender

_-  
Reduction Barrier  
_Miracle Locus

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**Dimensional Alchemist  
Necroface  
_Silver Homunculus  
_Helios Duo Megistus

-  
Golden Sarcophagus

-  
Escape from the Dark Dimension  
Dimensional Prison


	126. Gospel IV: The Last Supper

**New Testament 126: Gospel of The Last Supper**

_"What is this.. where am I?" Colin said to himself, standing in a darkly lit area. He fel cold and wet, unlike before. "Hey.." And he was not alone, next to him stood Nero. "Nero! What is going on!" But he was not reacting, his eyes fixated on another scene. "Huh?" He saw it too now, a duel was underway. "No, wait.. this is.." He saw Cleo on one side and someone who should not be there on the other. "Ananka?" Why was she here, what was she doing, where did the others go? Soon he had his answers. "Stop it.." He was back, back at Atlantis. "Stop it!" The duel was between her and a possessed Cleo, the duel that took Ananka's life. "NO!" And he was powerless to stop it this time as well, as the spirit of Jacob summoned Exodia itself to finish the shadowgame. He could only watch as she died again.. and again.. and again.._

Raness's LP: 1290 Seneska's LP: 7500

**"I wonder what your friend is seeing now." **Seneska laughed as she had left Colin Sairve frozen, just like Cable before him. **"No wait. I already know that. The wondering is left to you..I look forward to what your imaginations can come up with." **She had punished him. just because he could not finish the duel as quickly as he had intended. "Why are you enjoying this madness, Seneska." Raness could no nothing but stall with Swords of Revealing Light. **"Because it proves my point, that the pain they experience is not worth it!" **She drew again. **"Do not even bother to trick me, Raness. I know what your facedown monster is, and I will not wait for it to be flipped." **His set card Ryko would destroy a card of hers if it showed itself. **"Dimension Hole." **First she used a spell that removed her monster Helios Duo Megistus(4400/4400) from play. **"And ..Grand Convergence!" **Her second spell then moved the planets in the cosmic dueling field around, forming a cross pattern. **"All monsters on the field are destroyed, and you lose 300 lifepoints!" **The Lightsworn Hunter(200/100) was destroyed by the universal energy. Meanwhile Seneska drained lifeforce from all removed cards through Soul Absorption.

Raness's LP: 990 Seneska's LP: 9500

"She has like ten times his lifepoints now." Even after two gods she had a commendable lead. "My turn! I activate Pot of Avarice" The spell gave him two draws if he returned five monsters (2 x Wulf, Ra, Lyla and Lumina) in his grave back to his deck. **"What will you draw next I wonder.." **She saw that he added Judgment Dragon and Emergency Provisions to his hand. "I activate Emergency Provisions!" He sent his Card of Safe Return to the cemetery, to boost his own lifepoints. "Then I special summon Judgment Dragon!" Even after the Avarice spell, he had four Lightsworns in his grave (Wulf, Garoth, Gragonith, Jenis), so he could summon it(3000/2600). **"So you did, but are you even going to use its effect now?" **All that would do was destroy one trap of hers and his own Swords, and next turn Megistus would return from the Dimension Hole to kill the dragon off. "Grrr. Then I attack you directly!" The dragon sent out its holy flames and bathed her in them. **"Not good enough I am afraid." **Three spells were removed before the dragon showed up, and during the endphase Judgment Dragon discarded four cards to the cemetery. **"You not doing anything would have achieved the same result." **All in all she gained more then she had lost.

Raness's LP: 1990 Seneska's LP: 10000

He had wasted another turn. "**Who shall I choose now..." **She gazed over the duelists, standing on their planetoids. "This is not a game, you witch!" Cleo hissed at her. **"No, it is not. It is education.." **She responded coldly. "Then do it already! I am not afraid!" The goth refused to look away from the Millennium Eye. **"If you insist." **And Seneska was willing to oblige, as she looked straight into her memories and dug up her most painful event. "Ghh.." Cleo Caine joined the others, unmoving and mute. **"Interesting pain she had.." **The masked one chuckled. **"Not the death of a close friend, or the helplessness during possession... just her lonely nature in the world around her." **She started her turn. **"I wonder if you even knew about thoughts like those. You do not see like I do.." **Helios Duo(5000/5000) returned, even stronger due to the removed Ryko and the cards the dragon discarded. At the same time she claimed a trap card from the Golden Sarcophagus, now that two turns had passed. "Just shut up.."

She placed it down and ended her turn, still needing to wait one more turn under the Revealing Light. **"You still want to judge me, Raness." **Now the time was right for it. "Of course! I pay 1000 lifepoints!" He activated the dragons powers, letting it destroy all cards besides itself. **"But I determine my own fate!" **Yet she flipped her own spell, and melted down her Soul Absorption. **"I saw that dragon coming from across many horizons, Raness! I prepared this trap: Universal Barrier! It saves all cards on the field by removing one of them, negating the judgment you try to pass on to me!" **Dark matter washed over Macrocosm, Swords of Revealing Light and Duo Megistus, shielding them from the dragons energy waves. "Curse it!" He was foiled again. _"Damn it. At this rate he will need to use his third god."_ But Will did not see it in his hand.

Raness's LP: 990

_Universal Barrier, Normal Trap  
Remove 1 card on your side of the field from play, face-up cards can not be destroyed during this turn._

"Then I am next, aren't I?" Christine had to accept that, as the Magus only seemed to go after priests whose cards had already been used. "No, don't say that!" Nero said, as if Seneska did not already know this. **"Always the noble soul, Nero. But it is of no use.." **The Millennium Eye glowed once more. **"It is her own fault for escaping the golden light in the first place." **Christine closed her eyes, but that did not save her mind at all. The Magus easily uprooted whatever horrible memories she might have had, and made her remember them repeatedly as well. "No..again.." He had to see her leave for the second time today, it was just too much. "Three remain." William was also upset, but even now he hid his concerns. "It is okay, Nero. We can still save her." Even if she could read their minds, he wanted to keep his friends mind at ease. **"Save her?" **She started her turn for real, but ended it just as quickly just to let the Swords of Light fade away. **"Do not lie to yourself, William. **_**You **_**do not even believe that..."**

"My turn.." Raness drew again, though he was losing the will to continue. Nevertheless he received a card that Seneska could not see through. **"I see you are resorting to using your priests cards again. Expsoing the three remaining to further risk... No matter." **He placed the monster facedown and switched Judgment Dragon to defense mode. However again 4 cards were sent from his deck to the grave due to the dragons costs. _"This is not good. Even with Pot of Avarice, I am running low on cards." _Due to all the cards his friends gave him, and Elias as well, his deck had reached the limit of sixty cards. But right now only had one fifth of that. **"Yes you are running out of time." **And she could read that fear. **"Worry not, I shall remove that dragon for you now.. I sacrifice Duo Megistus." **The solar body(5400/5400) evolved again, splitting up into three solar females(8400/8400). **"To summon Helios Trice Megistus." **This trio gained 300 attackpoints for each removed monster. **"Your Swords have stayed for three turns, this is their end. I attack."** The solar beings first attack killed off the judger of the Lightsworn.

**"But Trice can strike again, if my enemy controls another spirit!" **The second member of the Helios entity fired a blast of flames at Raness's facedown monster. "That wont work!" However the fire did not touch it, as it revealed itself. "That is.." Nero recognized it, William did not. "Yomotsu Shikome!" It was the bodiless hermit Persona(1300/2000). "My.. card?" It was the symbol Jane Doe had created, to replace the mind fragment Jackson had lost. **"She gave you that spirit? Because dear Jackson could not be here?" **Though his Personae were not available, her one Reflection was enough to save the pharaoh. "It can not be destroyed as a result of battle, until a monster effect is activated." It had been facedown before Trice's second attack, so it was unkillable for now. **"So.. if you can not summon your gods, you put your hope in the power of another." **She ended her turn, referring to the Dark God Ger who had created Jane Doe. **"Or do you instead believe that she is like Jackson after all, one touched by a true angel?"**

"..." Raness drew another card, again Seneska could not see in his mind what it was. He was drawing one friend's card after the other. **"There is no such thing you know, angels of god. Not in any world I have ever seen. All dimensions are without universal rule, not even the sentinels can oversee all." **He ended his turn, and she drew again. "Are you saying that Jackson did not touch an angel of heaven? That he instead connected with the world before time itself?" Nero asked her. **"That is what I am saying. He touched perfection, a power that not even the gods of the sun or shadows can hope to overthrow. That is why Ger expressed interest in him, that is why he created you.. Jane Doe." **She pointed at the girl. **"Yes he rejected it, rejected the power and knowledge. He wished to have a common soul again, such foolishness." **With her other hand she placed two trap cards down. "He was not.. a fool." She replied at last. **"Of course you have to say that, your mind is the easiest to read of all. You believed you loved him, did you not?" **She chuckled, while Jane flinched. **"Even love can hurt. You, a shadow, see this now. In fact your most painful of all memories must be this very moment here."**

She entered the battle phase. **"So I wonder if I even need to use a penalty game on you..when your monster dies." **Trice Megistus would attack Yomotsu twice, and kill it with the second attack once the monster effect was used. **"Be gone!" **However instead Raness used the trap he had set. "Fiendish Chain!" It was Williams contribution, the chains of demons. **"Tsk." **They wrapped around Helios Trice, and sealed its effects(0/0). **"You were impatient." **But she could switch it defense mode, since it had not actually attacked yet. **"And the instant that trap is sent to the other dimension, William Carter will be the next." **She ended her turn. **"Your words now mean little to me, Seneska." **Yet before it ended, he activated his other facedown card: Ascension. "What is that?" Nobody but Jane knew what that card did, it ascended a Persona into the next state. And apparently even Yomotsu had a second form. "I special summon from my graveyard, Izanami no Mikoto!" The symbol exploded into a new demonic form. _"The..hell?"_

_Izanami no Okami - Ascendant Reflection of the Hermit, 7/2600/3000 Machine/Dark/Persona  
__This card can only be summoned by tributing 'Yomotsu Shikome' with the effect of 'Ascension'  
__The following effects are negated depending on the last card effect's type that was activated. (This effect does not stack)  
__Monster: Your opponent can not negate normal or special summons.  
__Spell: Your opponent can not chain to your card effects.  
__Trap: This monster can not be destroyed by card effects._

It looked rotten, it looked inhuman, a bloodred banshee attached to a towering skeletal body with half a dozen arms on each side(2600/3000). "Is this also what she envisioned for Jackson?" William looked at Jane Doe. And disturbingly enough, she was smiling. "Izanami no Okami, the ultimate Hermit persona. This will take down the solar entity." He drew at the start of his turn, and surprisingly enough it was Obelisk the Tormentor which came to his hand. Yet an even bigger surprise to the others was that Raness did not care for it. "It is not sacrifice, it is salvation. Time and time again they have proven that they would give their lives to stop what evil they came across." He then activated the effect of A D Changer in his graveyard, removing it from play to switch the battle position of Trice Megistus. He forced it back into attack position. "You and I are not the same, you do not accept pain at all. You just wish to erase all things human, to erase mortality, so that you never have to face your own weaknesses. This perfection of yours is nothing more than an escape from the flaws, a suicide of humanity! He clenched his fist. "I will show you how wrong you are!"

**"I do not wish to know where this newfound determination came from, Raness. but it ends! I activate Red Process Rubedo!" **The sun behind her and the creature before her started to brim with golden light. **"My enemy suffers damage for each card that was removed from play!" **29 cards were removed from his deck, so that would be 5800 damage to his already low lifepoints. The sun emitted rays of such intensity, seemingly no being could survive that. "Nature's Reflection!" In response Raness activated the trap that reflected all effect damage for a turn. **"I knew that card was waiting for me, it was in your hand since the very beginning!" **She flipped a counter trap. **"Shining Silver Force. This will destroy your trap and redirect the effect damage a second time!" **The solar rays were deflected by the Monolith of Raness, yet the Silver barrier failed to do the same. **"What? No!" **And the Magus was hit by the damage from her own trap. "You read the wrong mind, Seneska. This card is not mine.."

Seneska's LP: 4200

_Red Process Rubedo, Quickplay Spell  
__You can only activate this card if you control a monster with 'Helios' in its name. Inflict 200 damage to your opponent for each of their removed from play cards.  
__Afterwards if this card and the monster with 'Helios' in its name are removed from play you can add 1 'Black Hole Cataclysm' from your deck to your hand._

It had been Izanami that stopped the Silver Force. Because a trap had been activated last, the effect that stopped one from chaining to her controllers cards was not negated. "Jane knows this would have happened, not I." Instead the sun had literally gone supernova on her. "And now, be gone Trice Megistus!" Izanami struck, clawing through the very fabric of space with its many arms. Waves of dark energy ripped through the ultimate form of Helios, sending it and the Fiendish Chains into another dimension. And the remaining energy hit Seneska right in the face, breakinf off the left half of her mask. "This can only end one way, and I will not let you win!" He wheezed, exhausted yet thrilled by this new power. **"Then it will be the reverse of 'that day', everyone around you will die before you!"**

Seneska's LP: 1600

(To be Continued in New Testament 127: Gospel of Crucifixion)

**New Card used by Raness  
**_Yomotsu Shikome - Reflection of the Hermit  
__Izanami no Mikoto - Ascendant Reflection of the Hermit_

_-  
Ascension_

-  
Fiendish Chain

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**Helios Trice Megistus

-  
Dimension Hole  
Grand Convergence  
_Red Process Rubedo_

_-  
Universal Barrier  
_Shining Silver Force


	127. Gospel V: Crucifixion

**New Testament 127: Gospel of Crucifixion**

Raness's LP: 990

**"You? Kill me? That will never happen.." **The Magus said, even though her lead had been decreased significantly. **"Alone, or with your friends, you can not win! I am stronger than you!" **Due to the effect of Red Process Rubedo, she could add a certain card to her hand. "Is that anger I see, in your eye?" However Raness was no longer affraid. And now that a part of her mask had been broken off, he could see the emotions written on her face. **"Whatever you see, it is nothing compared to what you are feeling." **She laughed, her Millennium Eye sensing just now enraged her brother still was. **"And that reminds me. It is your turn, priest of the key!" **She glared at William Carter. **"Show me your pain!" **Because Megistus had been destroyed, Fiendish Chain was sent away. Carters gift to the pharaoh was gone. "I do not fear you! I have faith in Raness!" He yelled back. **"That is what they always say, but I will show you just how blind you are!" **Seneska unleashed the curse, the fifth penalty game. "No!"

His mind was gone, just like the others. "No.." Only Jane and Nero remained. "What is your plan here, Seneska. Is this a feeble attempt to draw me into a blind rage?" Raness ended his turn. **"Nothing of the sort. Allthough for the first time in millennia, your mind is reacting in interesting ways, brother. Not even when I attacked your kingdom, did I see such raw emotion. And even now you try to hide it.." **She started her turn and placed one monster down, along with the trap she had drawn in his turn. **"Let it all out, accept the wrath and see how much damage it does. Otherwise you should just accept it." **She ended her turn. **"Is the Pharaoh not supposed to be gods incarnate; the perfect image of unbiased justice and eventempered dominance? How can you, chosen by gods, not see that emotions only leads to pain." **Either way she did not fear him. In his hand he only had Obelisk, which he could not summon, and Ray of Hope, which would only postpone the inevitable deckout.

"I feel because of my ties to those that saved me. I rage because of the pain you have already given them.." Raness started his turn. "This is not just my emotions, but the emotions of all of us combined. Cable, Colin, Cleo, Christine, William, Nero, Jane; they have all fought for the world they believe in. And you are trying to take it away, take their belief away. I wont stand for it.." He clenched his fist and extended it towards her. "I will not let you break those ties!" The battle phase was entered, Izanami no Okami(2600/3000) raised her many claws. "Attack!" But behind the mask, one coul see half of a wicked smile forming. **"That rage, fueled by the rage of those around you, only leads to death. Trap card: Black Hole Cataclsym." **The most terrifying thing that could ever happen in the cosmos, happened. The sun behind them collapsed inwards. "What?" It had used up all its energy for Red Process Rubedo, as if it had gone supernova. In its place now was only a black hole, one that seemed to suck up everything it could.

_Black Hole Cataclysm, Continuous Trap  
__When your opponent declares an attack, you can remove that monster from play and gain lifepoints equal to its original attackpoints  
__The controller of this card can not enter the battle phase. Destroy this card during your opponents third endphase._

Even the mighty Izanami could not resist the gravitational pull of the collapsed star, and was drawn into the hole. "My..gift.." Jane and Nero were feeling the effects as well. **"Again your efforts lead nowhere, Raness. All your anger does is fuel my lifeforce." **Thanks to the Cataclysm, she regained 2600 lifepoints. "This is nothing.." The pharaoh grunted. **"It is the destruction of yet another priest's link to you. In your opinion that would be more than 'nothing'." **She smirked. "You will not involve them..anymore.." He stepped closer to her, despite the large wormhole right behind her. **"What are you trying to do?" **

And strangely she could not answer that question with her Millennium Eye at all, as if he was acting purely on impulse. "This is between you and me." He was walking on nothingness itself, stepping in between her and the remaining duelists. "It has always been that way.." He placed a card down. "If you want to punish someone, punish me! I know that is what you really want!" Seneska grit her teeth. **"You.. stop talking about me like you know me! You know nothing!" **The eye started glowing. "Then it is time to get to know everything, Senes!" But so did the Millennium Puzzle. And suddenly the black hole expanded. "Look out!" And whether or not that was intended, both the magus and the pharaoh were enveloped by the darkness, erased from the cosmic arena. "Where did they go?" Yet the duel had not been ended.

Seneska's LP: 4200

"Gah!" Elias woke up from yet another terrible nightmare. _"What is.. this is not my room." _But he soon realized, again, that it was not a dream he had been experiencing. "The pharaoh!" He had seen parts of the duel, but was otherwise unable to interact with the world outside of his mind and body. This was different, he could feel and touch. "Where am I supposed to be? This looks like.." The many corridors and hallways resembled the inside of a pyramid, if it were designed by Escher himself. He saw stairs that required its walkers to defy gravity, doors that rested on the floor and ceiling, bottomless pits in every direction. _"The mind of the pharaoh..or the inside of the puzzle?"_ He wondered why he was here, as he did not expect the inside of a black hole to look like this. However his main concern was how to get out. "Hello?" His voice echoed out across the labyrinthian dungeon, but he received no answer. _"Only one option to explore now.."_ If there was a way out, it would be through any of these doors. He checked the one closest to him.

"What the.." But it did not lead to just another compartment of this dungeon, not that he could have expected something logical in this place. Instead he ended up on top of an altar, the door literally opening into thin air. "This is.. the temple?" He had seen glimpses of this before, and heard stories about it; the day that Raness became 'the next pharaoh'. But this had to be the aftermath, he saw no battle and no gods. "There?" Looking down he noticed Raness himself, walking down the streets with a small entourage of guards, lead by a younger Ankhaten. Their kingdom was littered with corpses, from his country and from an invading group. Houses were burning and/or in ruin, his city was in shambles. _"This is what she said she would do, wasn't it? Show him his worst moment in life?" _Then this had to be that time for the spirit inside him. So much had happened this day, his father and mother died, and he himself had nearly been killed just for the sake of the god cards. _"This is why his soul was stuck on this day for three thousand years. That is what they told me..." _In fact it sounded a lot like what Seneska tried to do to him just now, make him relieve the pain of one instant for an eternity. Was history going to repeat itself again?

"I can not go here..I guess." The door was still behind him, so he took it to get back out. "Hey." Instead he ended up in a large throne room. "Whoa." Soldiers passed by him, except they did not notice him or try to apprehend him. _"I guess they can not see me.." _He saw a gathering of people, Raness was seated on his throne and before him a girl was kneeling. "Seneska?" Elias recognized her immediately, even though she looked nothing like the crazed magus he knew. "Are you sure you are ready for this, Senes?" Raness spoke, with a tone that could fool people into thinking they were not brother and sister and all. "You do not have to inherit this item." The Eye itself was resting on a pillow held by a marble statue. "I believe it to be necessary, my lord. Lady Neith left a void in the circle of priests, one that only her son or daughter can take over." Metru was present as well, though he already held the Millennium Ring. "I am ready, my lord. I will not fail the test of the eye." The Pharaoh gave her a long piercing glare, and sighed. "Very well."

What followed was not pleasant, Elias had to look away as 'the test' took place. Soldiers came with surgical tools to literally cut out her right eye just to make room for the new one. Even knowing how she would turn out, he did not need to see that. He returned to the door, and this time he did not move far.. time-wise or space-wise. _"Still?" _He was in a hallway of the palace, which looked less damaged than before. He heard footsteps and hid behind a pillar, even though he knew he could not be seen. _"It's her again?" _He saw Senes, running through the hall, holding her right eye with one hand. She stopped to catch her breath, allthough it did not sound like she was just tired. Going against every nerve in his body, Elias moved closer. He heard whispering.. _"Please..please...please stop..." _She was clearly in pain, yet he could not see why. Again he moved closer, even though his gut told him not to. _"Please...get.."_ And his gut was proven right when suddenly another hand appeared. "..get" It was the shadow, a shadow with one glowing eye.

**"Get out of my head!" **

The world around them shattered as if it had all been a glass window, leaving just him, the door and the shadow. **"I do not know how you got here. Maybe this was his idea of a counter penalty game, but you have seen enough." **She let go. "You.. and she.. are Seneska?" Elias still had no idea what was happening. **"That was Senes. That was the weak girl who could not handle the power of the eye, the girl who led herself be influenced by what everyone around her was thinking..of her.. of her brother. If she took out the eye, she would admit weakness, so she decided to live with that pain and knowledge.." **The glowing eye narrowed. **"That Senes is dead, the one who did not even try to fight the world around her. I curse you and your lord for dragging that memory up!" **Gaines could not move, his eyes were locked with hers. **"Perhaps I should repay him. If I can not make my brother relive his agony, I will make you relieve yours. And in your case, with your boring life, I might have to give it to you all at once." **A black hand pointed at him, and he could not even close his eyes. **"Penalty.." **But this time her hand was grabbed. "What?"

Another person stood behind her. "I told you, this is between us." It was the pharaoh's voice, but not his body. Instead he was a being of pure light wearing a golden puzzle, contrasting with the dark shadow holding a pale eye. **"You.. what did you do!" **She tried to break free, but his grip was too strong. "I defended myself against your penalty game. You forget that your memories were once sealed in the puzzle as well." He glanced at the door. "And I wanted to show you, while we were here again.." It slowly opened. **"No, I do not want to see.." **A brilliant light came from the other side. "The memory of our connection."

Elias saw it, they all saw it; a different ruler seated on a throne, talking to three younger people in his room. "Oh..." Raness, Metru and Senes were there, still very young. The pharaoh of this time had to be.. "Remember him, our father?" They could not vaguely hear what he was saying, he was talking about things like ritual, power and tasks. "From the day we were born, we were taught by him, by his staff, by his priests. We were taught that the power we had was just a means to an end, that the items we would one day take up were not just weapons.." He explained, while the shadow just watched. "You once believed that, I know you did. And now I think I know what changed, you saw humanity as its worst... But that is enough.. ."

He looked back at Elias. "I am sorry that you were caught up in this, Elias. I did not think she would target you. But now we can return." Suddenly a dueldisk was back on his arm, and the cards were in Elias' hand. "What is going on?" The duel could not resume here, as far as he knew. "We are going to break out of here, together." He smiled. **"You.." **The Seneska shadow flew to the other side of the throne room. **"There was no point to this, and you can not escape! No monster can survive the black hole!" **Nevertheless she too had to continue the game, even in here. **"I will win and I will go to my new world!" **She placed one card face-down and ended her turn. "No. Again you underestimate the power hat this world already has..I have to teach you a third time.." And then their trap was activated, the trap they received from Nero. "Reinforce Truth!" With it they could summon a level 2 warrior from their deck, and that too was a monster they got from the hero duelist. "This one, Hero Kid!" Elias knew which one he wanted and called the youth hero(300/600), who would then special summon two more with its effect. **"Three tributes in one turn?" **Seneska could not have predicted this, she could not see through that trap. "Yes, and you know the god is already in our hands." The pharaoh nodded at his partner. "Okay. We summon it, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

At the same time, the black hole that had devoured both duelists blew up from the inside out."They're back?" They saw Raness, Seneska, but also a titanic blue soldier(4000/4000) "He summoned Obelisk!" Its very presence started to shake the cosmic scenery, the stars were brighter and the sun itself had been put back in its place. "We did not want to worry you, but now we are prepared for the final turns!" They had only six cards left in their deck, six more turns. "Sister. You may have started this crusade against life itself because of what the eye forced you to see, and I blame myself for putting that burden on you. But the past is the past, that pain is there to learn from, not to dwell on." He entered the battle phase and Obelisk instantly crushed her facedown monster, ignoring the black hole trap altogether. The blow relased more shockwaves that shattered the rest of Seneska's mask. "This time, I will release you from your pain. So that at least you can find peace.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 128: Gospel of Resurrection)

**New Card used by Raness  
**Hero Kid

-  
Reinforce Truth

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**_Black Hole Cataclysm_


	128. Gospel VI: Resurrection

**New Testament 128: Gospel of Resurrection**

Raness's LP: 990 Seneska's LP: 4200

Obelisk(4000/4000) was summoned. "What.." And it just standing there was apparently enough to undo the effect of the shadowgame, as the other duelists slowly awakened from their slumber. "Guys.." Though they were too exhausted, mentally and physically, to move around. "Your games are at an end, sister. Like I said, the pain of the past will no longer influence us." Raness smirked. **"You.." **While Seneska held the shattered remains of her mask. **"But what I showed them was the truth, what they experienced was what really happened. You can not take that pain away just by beating me!" **

"You are wrong!" But Christine suddenly found eneough energy to shout back. "Can't you see? It is because of people like you, that we do suffer, that we have pain.." William and the others stood up as well. "You just showed us the pain we could not cope with, the losses that were unfair." Losses like his brothers death, Jacksons disappearance, Ananka's fatal defeat. The latter of which was in fact directly connected to Seneska. "If we suffer, part of that is because of our own mistakes, or own choices. But sometimes people force pain upon us, to relieve their own." They all had the same determination in their eyes as before. **"Tsk, so you still love the pain and take comfort in blaming others for it?" **She had not managed to break their spirits at all. "That is what you are doing now, you blame everyone but yourself. It is you who are blind, Seneska. Your eye sees too much.. you only focus on the bad."

**"Enough!"** Seneska hissed and looked away. **"This will not work on me, no tricks will! The eye is just a tool, what I saw with it is reality. I will never stand down, so finish your turn Raness!" **Her brother sighed. "I expected as much, sister." He placed a trap card down without looking at it, and ended his turn. **"Again you call me that.. what are you trying to say?" **She tried to look into his mind. **"What?" **Only to see just the dark side of the card. "You can not see it, you can not see what my other self drew." The pharaoh smiled. **"You are using your host to draw and set for you?" **She started her turn. "He is not my host, he is my friend. I know not what he placed, but I trust him." It now depended on whether she would have the same kind of trust in his partner, a trust of power. "Only six cards remain in my deck, manipulating fate now wont do me any good."

**"If you think one card I can not see will be enough to frighten me.." **She revealed her trap card, Return from the Different Dimension. **"Think again.." **She could special summon up to five monsters from her removed from play zone. "Oh no!" And she called out Tin Homunculus(0/0), Mercury Homunculus(1500/1500), Helios Duo Megistus(6400/6400) and two Alchemic Beast Lead Lions(500/500). **"I do not fear your traps, nor your god. I am beyond fear, Raness!" **She entered her battle phase. **"I could have just sent more Alchemic Beasts after you, but instead I will destroy Obelisk to prove myself!" **She could not revive Trice Megistus, who needed Duo to be sacrificed in order to be summoned. But Duo alone was strong enough to kill the divine soldier. **"I attack!" **Helios attacked Obelisk with its prominence. "Sister, do you remember that day, when I fist summoned god?" He flipped his unseen trap at this point. **"What?"** A card called Soul Imprisonment. "He who hears god, fears nothing as well!"

Seneska's LP: 2100

_Mercury Homunculus, 4/1500/1500 Warrior/Water  
__Once per turn you can destroy all other monsters on your side of the field and draw 1 card for each monster that was removed from play by this effect._

_Soul Imprisonment, Normal Trap  
__Return all of your removed from play monsters to your graveyard._

The trap returned all monsters in the other dimension back to his graveyard. Because of this, there were less cards removed from play for Helios to draw attackpoints from, and it(3400/3400) was killed while trying to take down Obelisk. **"You would imprison the souls I tried to release?" **She found the name of that trap revolting. "This card was made to counter your playing style, it symbolizes the return of all afterlife to their heaven!" He pointed at the golden sphere behind them, the mass of souls. "I do not imprison them, you do! You want to banish them to a world before time, just so you can never feel or see emotions again!" He was equally disgusted. **"Why..do you think your world is better!" **She attacked again, sending Tin Homunculus(5000/0) whose effect allowed it to become Obelisk's superior in battle. "Necro gardna!" But now that all monsters in his cemetery were removed from play again, he could use effects like the guarders; removing it from play to negate one attack. "I know what I want.. but you only know what you do no want."

Seneska's LP: 1500

**"You dare.." **She then sent her last backup after him, the direct attacking Lead Lions. "Guardian Angel Marie!" But he could remove an angel in his graveyard from play, to increase his lifepoints before the blow. He gained 1000 LP before he lost the same amount. **"You know only what you see, I know what people think, what they want and dont want. Humanity is rotten..and I can not stand them anymore.." **She entered main phase 2 and used the effect of her last Homunculus. **"And I have had a servant, who feared the future so much that she ripped out her own eyes." **She melted down Mercury, along with her three remaining monsters, to draw four cards from her deck. She then placed two cards down and activated the continuous spell card: D.D. Borderline. "**That future is what I am trying to prevent." **

_Guardian Angel Marie, 5/1700/1600 Light/Fairy  
__Activate by removing from play this card in your graveyard, when your opponent declares a direct attack. Gain 1000 life points._

"To prevent the future, you do not have to return life to a place where it will have no meaning." Suddenly a pulse was felt by the duelists, and Elias returned to his body. "If you take away pain, death, fear, hate, it will stagnate. Even if you intend to create a new world, it will lead linger in nothingness because life itself will lack purpose and drive. Emotions are just consequences of the world, of time." He drew a card and placed it facedown. **"So now the host thinks he knows how the world works." **She tried to read his mind, but Raness was back before that could happen. "He does, he taught me as well. He was willing to give his life to save others many times before." Because of the spell D.D. Borderline, he could attack as long as there were no spell cards in her graveyard. Therefore he ended his turn after switching Obelisk to defense mode. "There are people that deserve punishment and those that deserve peace. I don't believe perfection will ever come to us, because if it did: it would mean the end of individuality.. of the soul."

**"Shut up.." **As the turn ended, Black Hole Cataclysm was destroyed by its own effec. **"I activate the trap: Crevice into the Different Dimension. Two monsters of an element are removed from play. I choose the light."** She removed Golden Homunculus, while he removed two lightsworn Wulfs. **"Graverobbers Retribution."** And then she flipped her a continuous trap. "Every turn he will lose 100 lifepoints for every removed monster card?" Cable realized she was going for stall and burn tactics now. "In four turns this will really be over" But before she could decrease his lifepoints anything his trap was activated again. "Now, I activate Fairy Wind!" A cool breeze covered the entire area. "I destroy all face-up traps and spells and we both lose 300 lifepoints for each destroyed card!" Seneska was surprised, but did not protest when the wind destroyed the Borderline barrier, the Retribution trap and her Macrocosmos. **"It ends like that huh.." **Three cards and 900 lifepoints were lost. At the same time the galactic background faded away at last, from now on all dying cards would just go to the grave.

Raness's LP: 90 Seneska's LP: 600

**"Fine then.." **She placed her hand on her Millennium Eye. **"If I can not use it, I will prepare it for the end too." **And she tore it out. "Gah!" Though by now no blood could come from that empty socket."That is the second time she did that." Colin gagged. "Is she going to duel fairly now?" Cleo still found it hard to trust her. **"If I have on regret, brother. It is that I could never test myself against you, untainted." **dropped the eye to the ground. **"No gods, no homunculi, no priests. Just us two.. And now I shall succomb to that regret." **She special summoned a monster from her hand, an angel with an eagle hood(2500/2000). "Guardian Eatos?" Raness recognized it, this was one of the spirits she used before she turned to the alchemic arts. Though it suited her current style as well, since it could be special summoned without tributes if there were no monsters in her graveyard. **"This will be the spirit that slays god. The hour has come.." **She activated a spell card as well, the Twilight scimitar.

_Twilight Scimitar, Equip Spell  
__When this face-up card is sent from the field to the graveyard, remove it from play and add a 'Twilight Scimitar' from your deck to your hand._

**"The spell card is not what matters." **Eatos took the scimitar, but gained no power-up. **"I can send this card to the graveyard and add another to my hand. And I will do so for Eatos's skill." **The Guardian raised the weapon and started drawing in souls from her opponents graveyard. "What?" Ra, Judgment Dragon and Osiris were removed from play. **"And Eatos gains 500 attackpoints for each monster."** Her spirit(4000/2000) powered up, while the scimitar crumbled. **"But equality is not enough." **She added the second Twilight weapon to her hand and equipped it to Eatos. She then removed Lightsworn Gragonith, Ryko and Effect Veiler, and sent the second equip spell away as well. **"Be gone, God of Obelisk!"** The angel(5500/2000) fired a blast of holy energy from her hands, which ripped right through the blue titan. Luckily he had switched it to defense mode. **"I place one card down and end my turn. Now you can show me what you have as a normal duelist, brother! Show me what your deck grants you!"**

"I shall!" He added a monster card to his hand. Right now it was all he had besides another trap which would possibly buy him more time, but only that. "I summon the Lightsworn Spirit Shire." He called the blone fairy(400/1400). **"I see you were given something good." **That one gained 300 attackpoints for each unique Lightsworn in his graveyard, and he had 10 of those (Shire: 3400/1400) "If this attack hits, you will lose.."Eatos(2500/2000) meanwhile had lost the powerboosts already. "So here I go!" Shire gathered energy in her staff. **"Do not underestimate me, not even now." **But she activated the trap, Slip of Fortune. "That card?" A trap Fatimah was fond of using, it stopped Shire from attacking and removed Eatos from play for one turn. "Curse it." Next turn she would return and finish off the Lightsworn with the third and final scimitar. "I remove A D Changer in my graveyard from play, to switch the position of my monster!" At least this way the coming attack would not reduce what little life he had left. "Your turn.."

**"Do not worry, brother, your fear will soon be over." **She did not even need to use the scimitar now, and sent Guardian Eatos to kill Shire with her normal attackpower. **"Three cards remain in your deck, this suffering will end soon. All of it will end." **She placed another card down. "You seem less angered now. Could it be that you are actually enjoying this duel now?" Raness thought she sounded like her former self more and more, even with that odd voice of hers. **"If I am experiencing even a shred of joy, it is because of the simple fact that my lifework is finally nearing completion. All the gods have bowed before me, all the souls are waiting for release. The end of the world ruled by emotions is upon us.. " **She passed the turn to him at last. "But without emotions, rationality should rule. Yet I feel like your own choices are guided by emotions, how can you be so sure of yourself?" Raness drew. **"The two can no longer coexist in my mind, that is their only agreement. In the end one must be erased." **

"Then this is for both their sakes too. I special summon Archlord Kristya!" A redwinged archangel(2800/2300) descended to the field. "This monster can summoned like this when I have four angels in my cemetery." They were Celestia and Shire of the Lightsworn, along with Soul of Purity/Light and Honest. "When summoned this way, I can add one of these fairies to my hand." The others were excited now, if he took Honest he could kill Eatos. **"..." **Not that she was affraid of it. Her facedown card was another Dimension Wall, it would reflect any damage she would take. "I am not taking the card you are thinking off, Seneska." Yet he chose Celestia instead. **"You want to use her effect against me?"** By discarding four cards, Celestia could destroy two of Seneska's cards. **"Your deck only has two cards left!"** He could not use the effect anymore. "But you know what trap was in my hand for some time, right?" He flipped his card, Ray of Hope. "The light that never goes out!" Two light monsters were shuffled back into his deck. **"!"**

Now there were four cards, and he tributed Krystia to tribute summon Celestia(2300/200). "Destroy!" The angel fired holy magic from her staff to send both the Guardian and the Dimension Wall into an early grave. **"No..this should not be happening." **She had lost, she knew it, there was nothing in her deck, hand or cemetery that could stop the next attack. **"After all these millennia, you are still.. my better.."** Raness then entered the battle phase. "I take no pleasure from this, sister, but I have to end this. I felt anger, fear, sadness and joy on my way to this last turn. But now there is only one thought on my mind." Celestia pointed her staff at the his sister, Seneska. "Hope.." He smiled. "This time it will be different.. for all of us." And he struck, the Lightsworn bathed the magus of darkness in divine light. She did not scream, or cry out in pain. This had to happen. **"Brother.." **Her life dropped to zero. **"I still.. regret nothing. Except... that our paths had to cross.. like this." **A strange black tear came out of her empty eye.

**"Is this.. **happiness?..."

Seneska's LP: 0

(To be Continued in New Testament 129: Acceptance)

**New Card used by Raness  
**_Guardian Angel Marie  
_Archlord Kristya

_-  
Soul Imprisonment_

**New Cards used by Seneska  
**_Mercury Homunculus  
_Guardian Eatos

-  
D.D. Borderline  
_Twlight Scimitar  
_Crevice into a Different Dimension  
Graverobbers Retribution  
Slip of Fortune


	129. Acceptance

**New Testament 129: Acceptance**

Raness's LP: 90 Seneska's LP: 0

The duel was over at last, the pharaoh had won over the magus, the elder brother had defeated his younger sister. "..." Everyone held their silence, as she dropped to her knees. There was a smile on her face, they did not know why. "Our..world.." With her last strength she reached out to the skies, her hand motioning for the red sun above. And then finally, her body gave in to the loss of lifeforce. The arm burned away, as did the rest of her body. There were no screams of pain or cries of sorrow, this was the end for her and she accepted that. Nothing remained but a twisted black puzzle shaped like a pyramid, which shattered into a thousand tiny pieces the moment it hit the floor below them. The very first tool she had created was destroyed, the heart of all seven pillars. "Farewell.. Senes." Raness bowed his head. "May you find peace.."

He descended to the balcony of the temple. They were back in the sun city of Heliopolis, the cosmos had been erased completely and no longer did everyone stand on an isolated planetoid. "He did it." Only now did Colin feel relaxed enough to breathe and speak. "He had better.." Cleo sighed, thinking it was too close in the end. "But I could not have done it without you." The pharaoh spoke to them. "You say that a lot. But I guess we do too. We could not have accomplished this without you." William replied. "But what will happen now?" He had defeated Seneska, but it appeared the gate of Alkahest was still open and waiting above them. Not to mention the souls of all dimensions had been transported here and were not moving back either. "I believe I know how to find out." He walked to the side of the balcony, and picked up something. "What..that is.." He held the Millennium Eye between his fingers, it glistened with a newfound pure power. "The power to read minds. With this one might be able to see into the world beyond." There was just one problem. "But you need to put it inside your socket to use it, don't you?" Christine wondered who would make that sacrifice. "Well we are still 'dead' technically, so whatever wounds we get here.."

But before anyone could form a plan or theory, the gate itself started to become erratic. "What now?" A strange screeching sound was coming from the other side, and in response the golden sphere of life started to release its own wail. "Seems they no longer want to go towards the other place." The sound was unbearable, as one would expect from a trillion entities crying out in unison. "Look!" And then it happened again, transparent clear water poured down from the portal. More then ever before. The gate itself started to grow. "No! Without Seneska, the gate is going to go out of control!" She was the one who had started the process, and with her gone there was nothing to keep the strange energy in check. "If we do not seal it, the entire universe will be at stake!" They could only think of one way to stop it, the same way they delayed it last time. "The items!" They each took one, the Key, Ring, Scales, Tauk and Rod. "They were made with magic from that place, they were the ones who started the ritual. There must be a way for them to reverse it."

At any rate they had to hope they could at least defend themselves, as the water again tried to dissolve the area. "Now!" They raised their items and they reacted accordingly. Six golden beams came from six of the seven items, which tried to shoot down all the clear matter that streamed downwards. However it was not enough to punch through, there was too much this time. "We need all seven! Seven were used to open that gate, so seven we need to close it!" But with Seneska gone, there was not much they could do. She was the only priest who owned the Millennium Eye. "If I defeated her, then I am the new master.." But he was already using the Millennium Puzzle, he could not concentrate on two items at once. _"Let me do it." _A voice inside him said. "What? No.." And before he or anyone else knew what was going on, a second spirit came from the body of Raness. "They separated?" Or rather, Raness came out of Elias, as the former regained his royal Egyptian attire. "Please, let me do this." They were both holding on to the eye. "This is the only solution.." Raness did not let go. "I have already asked enough of you, I would not want you to bear this burden." Yet while neither could take it for themselves, a third party was able to pry it loose. "I will.."

"Wh.. you?" Jane stood in between them, and held the Millennium Eye in one hand. "Take this." The other held the Scales, which she tossed to Cable. "I give control of the scales to you, Jacksons best friend." She discarded them and placed the eye in front of her. "Wait, Jane. You do not have to go this far!" Cable yelled as he took over the Scales. "I will not go back anyway." She stated with a chillingly calm tone of voice, before she rammed the golden sphere right into her left eye. "Gack!" Christine and Nero looked away. "Why.." But this time there was no blood or agony, it was not like the process Elias and Raness had seen in the same memory. "..I.." Jane let go of her forehead and revealed that it was not just embedded into her, her eye had actually become golden itself, iris/pupil and all. "This is.. not how it is supposed to work."

Raness was wondering what went different this time, only to realize his puzzle was reacting the same way. "Hey.." It no longer felt solid, more like a mass of energy occupying the same dimensions. "Them too.." Elias pointed at the others, who were no longer holding physical tools forged from gold. "I do not get this." The necklace around Colins hand felt like static energy, and was magnetically stuck to him. The rays they emitted were growing stronger by the second, strong enough to evaporate all the colorless water. "I have never been taught about this, never told this could happen." This event had never happened before in recorded history. "Can you see anything new, Jane?" Cable asked her, curious if the earlier idea of looking into the gate with that eye would be at all helpful. "I see.." Jane looked entranced, terrified even. "We are not alone.." She looked to her side, as did the others. "My..priests?" And there they were, the five remaining priests of the old world: Almagest, Mulcifer, Fimbulvin, Ankhaten and Metru. "Brother?" But that was not all.

"Pharaoh." Amon was with them too, the first of all Millennium users. "You have set in motion a process that has been waiting for three millennia." And more spirits arrived, all wearing attire one would expect to see in the royal court. "Did the brainwashing Seneska put on them end already?" That would explain the presence of the sentinels, yet Nero noticed a few pharaoh-looking guys as well. "These are.. all the priests and pharaohs before Raness?" They recognized others as well: Osiris, Taurt, Mentu, Kiya.. and even.. "Mother!" Lady Neith was there as well, with two normal eyes this time. "Father!" And there was the man Elias had seen in Seneska's memories, and the duelists had seen in Raness's memories. Here he looked a lot younger. "What is going on? Where did you all come from?" It was almost expected to see even the users of the puzzle here, but he did not know what started this in the first place. "Are you really here? Or are you just echoes? Remnants of shadows lingering behind in the items for all these centuries?"

"My son. We are as real as can be, and we have been anticipating this day for a long time." Neith smiled, a rare expression for her. "Here at the threshold of magic and time, the seven items are at last used in unison, by seven souls with one goal in mind. They are ready.." More rays shot up into the sky, adding to the power that kept the gate stable. The gathering of souls moaned less as well. "My generation started this, by opening a connection to the world of magic before time." Amon spoke again. "We were desperate, but we were never meant to introduce such an element into our world, we were never meant to go beyond god. Now is the time to undo what I did, all of us together will. Only by combining all Millennium powers together, can the gate of Alkahest be undone. It has grown too strong to be closed up the normal way. Only this can seal it permanently. That is why we are here, so that we can all go back together." Then the father of Raness extended a hand. "You can finally rest after this son, this is going to be the last challenge.."

"But.. what will happen then? When the gate is closed.." William was not so sure if that would end all their problems. "That gate has fed of the energy from all worlds. If it is destroyed, all that energy will be released. The world of shadows will return to normal as will its inhabitants. At the same time the souls will be reunited with their own darker selves." That was necessary for their individuality in the end, even if they acted kinder without them this was not how they should live on. "With the gate gone, the souls here will return to where they came from, and remember nothing of their time here or under the white skies. Only those that have been awake during the first process will remember.." Those that knew Raness's name, technically speaking. "I see. That does sound like the best way to resolve all this." In the end perfection had been too good to be true. "That is all nice and dandy, but shouldn't we start talking about afterwards... after this is certain to work?" Cleo snapped and pointed upwards. "No.. the gate is still growing?"

Despite their combined efforts to send back all that came from Alkahests portal, it was still expanding. "We were too late! Curse it.." Not even all the owner of the millennium items at once could control it now. "Seven.." However Jane Doe stepped up again. "What, what is she talking about?" Raness looked stunned, but Amon and the others merely sighed. "She has seen what must be done." She had read their minds, and learned what the final part of the plan was. "If all items at once can not destroy the gate, it means that they have to become one whole again. Remember the records of the forging, Lord Raness. It started out as one sacrifice, one source of gold and magic. That is where they must return to." And she had also seen how they planned to do this. "I have to do it." Jane said, shocking the other duelists. "Why?" They did not even know what she had to do, but if the spirits were not telling them.. "Because I was made from Jackson..and also from Messiah. Restructuring the items will be like restructuring Jacksons mind.."

She placed a left hand on her forehead again, and raised the other towards the portal of Alkahest. "Do not worry.. I am not going yet." The beams of golden light no longer pointed up, instead they all shot towards the girl. And the items in their hands or on the necks finally dissipated. "Oh.." The Key, Ring, Rod, Eye, Tauk, Scales and Puzzle were absorbed by Jane. "Now.." She retracted her left hand and placed it besides her other hand. "Become one.." And the beam she released was wider than anything that they had emanated on their own, its width far succeeded that of the dimensional rift. It was completely engulfed in the pure light, which filled the colorless void with all the colors of the sun and the universe. "Is it working!" For a moment both powers seemed to stand still, neither side grew or shrunk. "It is!" But in the end the gate started to decrease in size, the black cracks at the edges flying away like swarms of black ink. The light on the other hand grew more and more, wrapping over the spirits as well as the city..

"..." They could still see each other, but not the rest of the world. "It was never real to begin with.." Nero did recall that everything up until now had just been a very powerful reality altering illusion. This must have been what the true world looked like, or at least what the afterlife was like. "They are leaving.." With them was also the massive sun of life, some souls started to disconnect and flew into the distance. They and a trail of black mist disappeared after a few yards. "Across that horizon lies your world. You will be able to return to your bodies by following them." Raness explained, standing in front of all his priests and previous generations. "What, even me?" Cleo asked, half-excited and half-concerned. "Yes, even you. Your demise was caused by unnatural means, it would be wrong if you were not given a second chance. Prospero, Madlyn, they will all be sent back to their homes." He also noticed the look on Jane's face. "Jackson is out there somewhere as well, I know he is happy wherever he is." The girl did not respond, but Cable grinned. "That may be good enough for us.."

Though this answer led to another question. "Then what about you?" Elias asked the pharaoh, who just smiled. "I am going somewhere were you do not need to go yet. This is where the roads diverge. We can not thank you enough for everything that you have done. But now at last all threats to your world have been eliminated. The Orichalcos, the Magus, they will never return." Raness extended a hand again, only this time to shake theirs. "This is where we say goodbye." The others were surprised, but still happy. "Yeah.. we had the adventure of a lifetime." They all placed their hands on him. "We will be together forever in our memories.. always" He said, laughing for the first time in a long time. And then he started to fade away along with the other priests, his essence becoming one with the golden aura above them. "Yeah.. we will never forget this...Raness."

(To be Concluded in The Final Testament)


	130. The Final Testament

**New Testament 130: The Final Testament**

The sun was shining..

In the end, the world had survived. The black sky passed by the sleeping population, the white sky took away their dark selves while the golden sky petrified their remains. But the gate had been sealed before they could be sent to the world before time, the world of magic and gods. And when that connection had been blocked, all living spirits returned to their silver shells, reawakening into the world as it had been before Seneska started the ritual. Almost everyone forgot their longing for the perfect world, but they regained every other memory the colorless process had taken away. Humanity would live on, for better or worse. It wa up to them to take their kind into the next stages, for the connection to the millennium power had been closed off forever. Yet not all lost what they gained from that adventure, a small dozen had learned and grown...

And there were a couple of loose ends to clear up.

"I do not get it. The satellite..just disappeared." The last thing he remembered was being at the NORAD center to negotiate the dismantling of the Orichalcos satellite. "It was the Magus wasn't it, he did something to stop it!" Marcus Simmons was once a powerful man, now he was detained in a cell back in Britain for all the crimes he comitted in the name of a company and for hiw own glory. "For the record, the Magus was a she." But he was not alone there. "And it would take too long to explain what transpired while you were 'affected'. Your apprentices could tell you more, but it seems they want nothing more to do with you." Cable smiled, standing on the opposite side of the bars. "You are enjoying this." Simmons growled. "I helped you many times." This time he could not buy his way out, as his benefactor had been arrested as well. Or so he heard. "I do not know how you found him, when even I could not, but without the two of us, you would not have saved the world!" To this Fraser stopped smiling. "I know, but still you tried to betray us for your own sake. You know too much to be left free. So in exchange for a simple silence please, you will only have to suffer a house arrest." The smirk returned. "Even now, I am thankful for our..past... Marcus."

Leaving him to mull his options, Cable left the room. "Let me guess, he accepted." Lydia, Madlyn and Prospero waited for him outside. "He is thinking on it. I know how much that bothers you" Fraser replied. "Psh, I should just be glad you let me free for some reason." Blackstone would not forget what he did to her, but she felt like they would not forget either. "They are very forgiving.." Madlyn said calmly. "Though I wonder if they should have been." Prospero meanwhile did not know if he could ever make up for it. "You three have helped us as well, in even more ways than Marcus did. I could never allow any of you to be incarcerated, not even you Lydia.. You are all still young." There was still plenty of time for them to make amends if they wanted too. "Besides, I would not want to ruin a reunion." He chuckled. "What are you talking about?" Lydia twitched. "Hey Lydia!" And her expression only twisted more as she heard a familiar voice. "Did you miss me!" Behind her stood Ceasar, as alive and happy as he could ever be. "..I guess I did." She sighed.

Seeing this however made Cable think back to the one soul they had not been able to recover and another who had not returned with them..._"Why are you staying?" _He asked at that time, to the last remnant of his best friend that he could say farewell to. _"He is out there, somewhere. I would know.." _Jane was his shadow, but had become so much more. Yet she had never had a body of her own, so perhaps it was best for her to remain in the afterlife after all. _"It will be just like before. I will take as long as I need, to find all the pieces and put him back together."_That was what she said. He had offered to help her, but she refused. _"No. You need to stay, and keep the memory alive. Tell the world about him, and live.. And then when you can not live anymore, he will be there waiting for you.. when you go to where all humans go." _And that was how Jane Doe left them, searching for Jackson Doe's lost soul. It was not a very pleasant farewell, but he had hope. And the fact that she was doing all of this, proved to him that there was good inside every bit of darkness.

...

Somewhere else, at an open restaurant, two duelists were enjoying their free time and peace. "So Marcus is under house arrest, that other guy is in jail, his henchies are doing volunteer work. It seems all is right with this world." Colin liked all of the good news he was hearing. "Yes that seems to be the case. It did not turn out to be so good for Marcus anymore, as the military and government did not forget what he and Tum'aga had done." William found it amusing as well. "Then for the first time in weeks, I can spend money and relex without feeling guilty about it." Colin took a zip from his glass. "...you dont agree?" And then he noticed the stern look on Carters face. "I was just wondering. How we got back here.." It had been odd to say the least, the followed the trail of shadows and souls, floating down to earth and walking into their own bodies as if they were armored suits. But that was not what was on his mind. "All those souls that stayed behind.. aren't you wondering if they were there.. the people we lost.. and why they did not talk to us?" He sighed. "Oh...one of them did talk to me." Sairve said, rather excitedly. "They did?" He was surprised, he did not see that happen. "It was before we left, one soul came up to me. She said her name was Venice."

Williams eyes widened, he remembered her all too well. "She talked to you?" Colin nodded. "It's nothing personal. I was just the only one wandering around. I guess I was trying to find Ananka in that big sphere of life." But then he had known that girl for a little while too. "She came to tell me that Ananka was alright, that everyone was alright. They did not want us to worry about them..Venice, Ned, Ananka" William glared at him. "You did not think to mention this up until now?" He sounded a bit bitter. "I should have, but that is the thing.. I only remembered it just now. I have no idea why.." He would not assume to understand how the spirit world worked, but he thought it was another effect of that kind of life. "I swear.. And from what I recall, they even meant your brother: Andre Carter right?" he was still staring, but his expression softened. "Yeah.." He wondered now why he could not have talked to him himself, but perhaps he knew. "If I saw Andre again, I probably would not want to leave." Colin nodded. "Yeah, I would feel the same way.." He would not want to abandon Ananka either. "But hey, they want us to live our life to the fullest, so that is what I will do." He laughed and ordered another drink. "Today is the first day of a brighter future.."

And at the orphanage another pair was found. "So the little tykes are alright?" Cleo asked the student. "Yeah, back to normal.. Innocent and playful." Elias returned here as soon as he could. "That's good." And while Caine did not normally like kids, she was willing to follow him just this once. "I was just curious, ms. Caine. Why you decided to come with me.." Though he did not really get the chance to say no at that time. "What, you have to guess? And you have got to stop calling me ms. Caine. You sound like my mother." Which reminded her that she would have to call her one of these days. Even she would start to grow concerned over the lack of contact. "Is it because of what happened that time? The duel where you.." He did not finish the sentence, but it was clear he meant the fight against Archon. "I could not stop him.. he defeated you.. took away your soul. And I never did get the chance to apologize." Cleo however slapped her head and groaned. "You do not get it all, do you? I do not want apologies.. especially not from you."

She walked a few steps away. "I just felt sad, that it is over. I have nothing more to do.." At this point Caine felt like every next move was just not as thrilling, like going back to the tournaments. "I came with you because I was bored, for one reason.." She did not want to see Marcus again, nor did she enjoy just loitering around as Carter and Sairve were doing. As for Nero, she knew he wanted to go his own way. "Oh. I guess.." Elias sounded disappointed. "But there is more.." Yet suddenly she took out a pack of cards from her deck. "Remember? This is where you first dueled.. against me." Here at the garden nesxt to the orphanage, had she tried to teach Gaines the ropes of the game. "You learned a lot since then, but we never did finish our duel back at that time." She smirked. "You want to.." And he saw that she wanted a rematch, one with no stress or danger involved. "I still do have my cards.." He took out his Lightsworn deck. "You didn't have thoughts about quitting then? That is good to hear." Cleo sat down again, placing her deck on a table. "A duel, without holograms or shadowgames, that is a proper way to say goodbye." He sat down too. "Yeah.." They started shuffling. "Oh and..thanks..for everything." Cleo whispered.

"Wait!" Meanwhile a bookstore was about to close up, so a book signing event started to take down its stuff. "Wait, wait.." But then one girl ran through the entrance, arriving in the nick of time. "I wanted to get my book signed too!" She said loudly, while out of breath. "Well, certainly.." The man at the table smiled and took out a pen. "It is the least I can do for a tired-out fan." Christine Rose returned the smile. "Thanks.. it would mean the world to me.." She placed down a book called 'Chaos for Chaos'. "I get that a lot." The man dabbed his pen in ink and moved for the cover. "To who do I owe the pleasure?" He started by writing down his name 'John Nelson'. "Christine.. Rose..." He wrote down the rest. "It's not just that you changed the world, you literally helped save the world." She then took out a stack of cards. "What is that?" A bodyguard grumbled. "It's.. the set based on my series?" The writer recognized the cards, on top was John Baker himself. "Yes. I am a duelist too, and with your deck I had an adventure of my own. So.." She held up six cards. "I want you to sign these to. They are for my friends who could not come.. but they too mean it. This saved the world." He did not know what to think of this. "Alright." Nevertheless he wrote it down.

_From John Nelson to Christine Rose and her Friends, the world is a better place thanks to you.._

A few minutes later she stood outside and was on the phone. "Yeah it worked." She said to the one on the line. "I was lucky enough that this event was spread out across the country and the month." In her hand she held six autographed cards. "And how about you, how are you doing?" She asked and listened intently. "Yes I am sure they will be fine. They were when you last saw them, right?" There seemed to be some anxious muttering coming from the other end. "Everything is okay, there should not be any more enemies, no more curses and spells. It is all over.." She sighed, she knew he was trying to stall becaise he was affraid. "Look, this is what you have been waiting for for all these years. You have to face it eventually, face who they really are. What you want to tell them is up to you. But.." She closed her eyes. "Nero. You will always have us.. Remember that. If something is wrong I will.. we will come. Okay?" At last the voice seemed to calm down. "Good. Now step through that door, and say hello to them for me.. "

"I will." In Switzerland again, Nero closed the phone. He took a deep breath and walked into the hospital. _"They were brainwashed, like everyone else. But Seneska said they were only awake because of that. So I can not stop thinking, what if they are back in a coma because we 'stopped her'. What if I did it to my parents again?" _First Jacob in his body made his mother and father comatose, and now he might have done the same. He did not know if he could live with himself if he saw both his parents still sleeping on their beds. _"No. They are right.. she is right. What happened, happened. I would not have done it any other way. And now is the time to face the consequences.." _He stopped, there was no more space between him and the room where he had last seen mr. and mrs. Sullivan. _"No more running away.. no more denial, grieving, anger or fear.." _He placed his hand on the door and pushed it open. The future for him started on this very second. "Nero?" And two voices waited beyond that border of time, never having sounded sweeter.

"Mom..dad.. I am home.."

The End


End file.
